Post Office Savings Bank, or very briefly PostBank (trading name of Post Office Bank Limited), was a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

owned by the

New Zealand Government The New Zealand Government () is the central government through which political authority is exercised in New Zealand. As in most other parliamentary democracies, the term "Government" refers chiefly to the executive branch, and more specifica ...

as the government's

postal savings system Postal savings systems provide depositors who unbanked, do not have access to banks a safe and convenient method to save money. Many nations have operated banking systems involving post offices to promote saving money among the poor. History I ...

. The bank was established in 1867. It became PostBank in 1987 and was disestablished and the branches were rebranded when it was acquired by

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, commonly known as ANZ Bank, is a multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is Austr ...

(ANZ) in 1989.

History

The Post Office Savings Bank was set up in 1867 to encourage thrift by ordinary people, and was immediately successful. One of the benefits of the Post Office Savings Bank was that customers could deposit and withdraw money at any branch of the bank. Business was conducted from post offices which were located in towns and cities all over New Zealand. By the 1910s customers were asking for the ability to withdraw their funds by cheque but successive postmasters-general refused to allow this, stating that the Post Office Savings Bank was not the same as a commercial bank, having as its objective thrift and regular deposits, not convenience. This had the effect of making it easy to deposit money but harder to withdraw it. However the bank eventually moved with the times and cheques were introduced in 1958. During its long history the Post Office Savings Bank introduced various other products including school banking (the 'Squirrel' savings accounts) and Bonus Bonds.

PostBank

PostBank was formed when the

New Zealand Post Office The New Zealand Post Office (NZPO) was a government department of New Zealand until 1987. It was previously (from 1881 to 1959) named the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department (NZ P&T). As a government department, the New Zealand Post Office ...

(a former Government Department) was split up by the ''Postal Services Act 1987'' into Post Office Bank Ltd (trading as PostBank), New Zealand Post Ltd (a postal services company) and Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Ltd (a telecommunications company). It purchased the assets of the former Post Office Savings Bank. PostBank was sold two years after it was formed to ANZ, with the PostBank brand being absorbed and finally removed by the late 1990s. PostBank shared many operating characteristics with the later

Kiwibank Kiwibank Limited is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise, state-owned bank and financial services provider. As of 2023, Kiwibank is the fifth-largest bank in New Zealand by assets, and the largest New Zealand-owned bank, with a market share of ...

, a bank which initially operated as a

wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

of the

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

New Zealand Post Limited NZ Post (), shortened from New Zealand Post, is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing most postal services in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided postal, banking, and telecommunications servic ...

. Later, Kiwibank and New Zealand Post started a process of no longer co-locating, with Kiwibank opening 13 stand-alone premises.

References

External links

Information about the Post Office Savings Bank
in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Defunct banks of New Zealand Banks established in 1867 Banks disestablished in 1989 1989 disestablishments in New Zealand New Zealand companies established in 1867 Postal savings system Government-owned banks {{NewZealand-gov-stub