Gloriavale finds alternative to BNZ

| Greymouth Star | Laura Mills |
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Gloriavale has found a new bank, after BNZ won a court case to discontinue services.

The Court of Appeal cleared the way for the Australian-owned bank to close Gloriavale’s accounts in December. That includes the Christian community’s businesses and some of the largest dairy farms on the West Coast.

Gloriavale’s annual report highlights the change in bankers: “The trust and related entities have found new banking facilities from March 2025”.

“In addition to the above, there are other ongoing legal cases against the trust. At the date of issue of these consolidated financial statements, on the basis of legal advice received, the trust was not able to reliably estimate the potential outcome and any costs associated with the cases.”

Its chief executive Philip Jamieson, said the new banker was good news for the community.

“They deserve to have access to the New Zealand banking system just like any other New Zealander. We are not disclosing who we are now banking with.”

He compared it to the electricity companies stopping supplying power, and said the trend towards banks being “moral arbiters” was worrying.

At a High Court hearing in 2023,BNZ lawyer Will Irving said the Employment Court case brought by Gloriavale leavers Hosea Courage, Daniel Pilgrim and Levi Courage warranted cutting ties with Gloriavale.

“The Courage decision, for the first time, revealed a system of forced child labour in the Gloriavale businesses and across the Gloriavale businesses,” he said.

“It was inconsistent with BNZ’s human rights policy for it to continue to bank entities forcing children, schoolage children, to work for them.”

Gloriavale’s lawyer Richard Raymond KC said the community had not breached BNZ’s terms and conditions and closing the accounts would be devastating for “vulnerable” people who lived at the West Coast commune.

Mr Raymond said a good proportion of matters relied on by the bank “appeared to have been sourced from the media or Wikipedia and were factually incorrect”. Gloriavale is not the only West Coast group struggling with banking — coalminers in particular have reported problems.

Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee has been hearing submissions about the banking sector. Kiwibank told the committee recently “serving producers in the coal, oil and gas mining sectors is challenging due to the need for business bankers with deep industry knowledge. Under our RBB Policy, Kiwibank will not lend to producers, manufacturers or extractors of coal, oil and gas”. — additional reporting RNZ