Article

Reflections

Is it Time to change our “Bank”?

Why am I appalled to learn that the New Zealand branch of the Westpac Bank is paying its chief executive a salary of over $5.5m per annum? Maybe it’s because I thought we as a country had decided that we are living in times that call for restraint, for moderation. Maybe it’s because I thought that a significant proportion of the population is out of work, and that others barely earn enough to live on, and that somehow we need to spread the money around. Maybe it’s because I thought that it was the banks, along with the New York Stock Exchange that somehow got us into the economic situation we are in and that they especially need to set the example in restraint and moderation.

It seems I was wrong. In spite of a bit of tightening up here and there, all the signs are that the banks will go on being the banks and the stock exchange the stock exchange. It was reported in the Herald on Saturday 20th November that the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank in Australia, a New Zealander, is earning $20.5m per annum, while three other Australian banking CEO’s were earning in excess of $7m per annum. This is not a criticism of the chief executives who may well be excellent people for the positions they hold but rather it is a criticism of Westpac and the other banks who engage in similar practices. If this is the bankers idea of restraint, or moderation, then it is time the people, the customers, rose up and called “foul”. But we the customers need to wake up. We in the Churches need to wake up.

I believe that we need to challenge the myths we are often fed. Take for example the myth that “if you pay peanuts you get monkeys”. I believe that there is very little truth in that assertion. There are many very talented people who work for a comparatively modest salary, and there are many others who get their satisfaction from tasks well done, challenges to be surmounted, and not from the actual amount of financial recompense they receive. Personally, I’m glad that in the Methodist Church of New Zealand, we have a policy that includes the payment of a standard stipend. That is all ordained ministers (presbyters) get the same stipend whether they are fresh out of Theological College or are the President of the Church! No one enters the ordained ministry to get rich in a monetary sense but many would affirm that there is a richness to be found in serving Christ.

I have long held the view that the most important and most demanding task in this country is the task we give to the Prime Minister. I understand that the Prime Minister is paid approximately $375,000 per annum plus $19,000 in allowances - a vast sum by the standard of the average New Zealand household, but a sum to be scorned at as only fit for monkeys according to the banks and others. Furthermore, the Prime Minister is accountable, not just to the Cabinet, or to his or her party, but to the electorate. If the Prime Minister is not doing her or his job to our satisfaction we can vote him/her out at the next election along with their political party if we have a mind. Bank Executives are nowhere near as accountable to the general public. So, I think, that the Prime Minister’s salary should top the lot, should set the benchmark – and that all CEO’s in the Banks or elsewhere, should get less! Or, is it true that the banks believe that we have monkey’s running the country and only the banks have intelligent people?

Christians believe that “the workman is worthy of his hire”, we also believe that we are called to give of our best to the tasks to which we have been appointed. One of the outcomes of the Protestant Reformation was the affirmation that people are to “work for the glory of God”. So we are not opposed to wages or salaries, and are on the side of excellence. But we are also called to care for the weakest and most vulnerable in society and to do that we need to ensure that the monetary cake is spread across the whole whether that whole be all the employees in our banks and other institutions, or society at large. Locking in hugely excessive salaries for the benefit of relatively few people means that thousands of others actually receive less in the long run. It is wrong and it needs to stop. If it doesn’t then it is time to change our bank, that is, if we can find a bank with the courage and wisdom to act differently!