Banking Ombudsman Farewell

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.  Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening  (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Hon Sir Ian Barker Chairman of the New Zealand Banking Ombudsman Scheme and your fellow directors; your predecessor and indeed founder chairman, Rt Hon Sir Gordon Bisson; Liz Brown, Banking Ombudsman and guest of honour this evening; Deborah Battell, your successor; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is with great pleasure that I have accepted the invitation to attend and speak at this farewell reception for you as retiring Banking Ombudsman, Liz Brown.

Being invited to speak at events where people are being farewelled at the end of meritorious service is something that occurs on a number of times in the Governor General role.  More than sometimes I may have some passing knowledge of the person being honoured guest, and every so often they are also friends.  It is with great pleasure that I can say that Liz Brown is one who falls squarely into the last capacity as a friend and she and husband, Guy, as a friend of both Susan and I.

Liz Brown was initially someone I knew as a colleague slightly at arms length because when I became an Ombudsman in 1995 she was a respected contributor to the Christchurch Office and had been for some years at that.  She had migrated from Britain with a law degree from Oxford and had worked as a lawyer there too.
 
After some time in the connected role she left us to become New Zealand’s second Banking Ombudsman—a role she has subsequently held for 14 years.

There are many kinds of Ombudsman contribution.  To address the question of oversight of decisions made beforehand, there can be people appointed who might have had an administrative or legal background, those who might themselves have had a governance role and/or those with a commercial role beforehand.  Ombudsmanship is a commodious vessel – sometimes for the office holder to be regarded as a “dogbox” - but there is ample scope for all.

Of all of the kinds of contributors available, Liz Brown, in my estimation, came to the field as a sound lawyer who understood people in society and who understood their unmet needs.  She has reflected this trait in all her work as an Ombudsman, first by adding value to the work of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen when in that phase and has clearly done the same over a long term in the Banking Ombudsman role.  She has been one to see the Ombudsman methodology as applying to the private sector as well as to government organisations and accordingly has played a crucial role in development and encouragement of other Ombudsman schemes for the Insurance and for the Electricity and Gas sectors.  Additionally, she has been a crucial figure in the development of the Australasian Ombudsman Association ANZOA.

One of the many ways in which I have had a professional connection with Liz Brown was when I was asked to undertake a review of the scheme in 2005 and in particular of its governance structure.  In the write-up of the Banking Ombudsman scheme I brought to mind the slogan of the Wellington home appliance firm LV Martin Limited with the words that a number here will recognise “It’s the putting right that counts!”  I used this phrase to describe what the Banking Ombudsman had to do and to anchor my report.  In case that my use of the LV Martin slogan was thought to be a little cavalier or lacking suitable gravitas, I could point to our country’s premier jurist Sir Ken Keith using the same phrase to describe Ombudsman work in a noted learned law journal article.

Using the same anchoring phrase “it’s the putting right that counts”, this evening, may I say that for 14 years, Liz Brown has worked assiduously to meet that challenge.  While the scheme is funded by the participating banks, she has made it clear in her public statements that she has headed an independent organisation I putting things right.  In this she has been supported by the, formerly, Banking Ombudsman Commission and now, Banking Ombudsman Board and to that end, I acknowledge the leadership of Rt Hon Sir Gordon Bisson and Sir Ian Barker in chairing those bodies.

When Liz came to be the second Banking Ombudsman, the scheme was still in its infancy.  It was the first example in New Zealand where a public sector concept had been adopted by the private sector and there was still something of the notion being on trial as she started.

That it has survived and prospered reflects not only Liz Brown’s commitment to the principles of the Scheme but also her ability to inspire her staff to meet the challenge.  In doing so, she has gained not only public respect, but the respect of the banking industry. 

The kinds of things I have bought to mind about Liz Brown did not just manifest themselves in recent times.  In preparing for what I would say this evening in an ombudsmanlike evidential manner, there came to hand a copy of a feature that appeared in The Press newspaper in Christchurch in October 1988.  Our guest of honour featured prominently and in it commented on the issue of “problem complainants.”  Her approach was not to dismiss their complaints, but treat them with respect.  She said: “We try to look carefully at their complaints because quite often you have doubts about the way an organisation has treated them.  It’s difficult to remember that someone who has been pestering you for years still has the same basic human rights as someone like you.”

The person with the keen sense of people’s unmet needs has kept on keeping on in that regard.  The Banking Ombudsman concept has been successful and it has been joined by two other private sector schemes, the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman and the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commissioner.  Had the first scheme had failed or faltered it is unlikely that it would have been expanded and adopted elsewhere.

It has been no easy task.  Banking at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, has changed dramatically since the middle of the last decade of the 20th Century.   When Liz started Internet banking in New Zealand, for example, was still to be inaugurated.  Technologies and new products continue to transform the sector.  And in more recent times, the Office has been further challenged by the fallout from the world financial and economic crisis.  So the Office and its Ombudsman have had to remain flexible and able to respond to the ever changing demands of the sector and the wider economy. 

So to Liz, may I add congratulations to you for your ongoing work to “put things right.”  New Zealanders and their Banks owe you their gratitude.  I also wish you and Guy all the best in the next chapter.

And on that note I will close in New Zealand’s first language Māori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours. 

No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.