Financial wellbeing means rethinking lending: Kempson

The comments coincide with the release of a survey from ANZ which showed more than a third of Australians and New Zealanders are considered just ‘getting by’ financially – or worse.

"[Supporting financial wellbeing] does mean monitoring how people are using [borrowed funds].” -Professor Elaine Kempson

“Obviously everybody aspires to lend responsibly,” Professor Kempson said. “But [supporting financial wellbeing] does mean monitoring how people are using [borrowed funds] and more particularly how people are repaying their credit cards.”

“[Lenders need] to identify those people who seem to have an overreliance on a credit card or an overdraft for daily living because that is not a good strategy and it does not promote financial wellbeing.”

The report, Financial Wellbeing: a survey of adults in Australia/New Zealand, is the sixth and latest study from ANZ which provides unique insight into specific behaviours and mindsets which affect and are affected by financial wellbeing.

You can click below to hear an edit of the podcast, or go here to listen to the full version.

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“Banks should be promoting the wellbeing of the customers that you deal with and not damaging wellbeing,” Professor Kempson said.

We also speak with Dr Leeora Black, a Principal at Deloitte Risk Advisory, about the changing nature of banks and corporate social reasonability.

Listen to the podcast above to find out more.

Janak Rogers is host of The ANZ Way podcast