Power to the people

State-owned Kiwibank may be small but it is gaining popular support, writes Virginia Marsh in Wellington.

An interesting experiment in community banking in the southern hemisphere has just passed an important milestone.

Kiwibank, the government-owned ‘People’s Bank’ set up amid much derision in 2002 to take on New Zealand’s foreign-owned commercial banks, in March reported its maiden profit of NZ$2.5m for the six months to December, a year ahead of its business plan.