Parliament has finally caught up with what we've been saying since day one: New Zealand's banking sector desperately needs genuine competition to deliver better outcomes for Kiwis.

The Finance and Expenditure Committee just delivered an 80-page wake-up call that confirms what many of us already knew: the Big Four Australian-owned banks control almost 90% of the market while earning what the report calls "excessive profits" compared to international peers.

Here's the real issue: those capital requirements designed to keep our banking system safe are actually creating barriers that prevent new players from scaling effectively. It's a frustrating catch-22.

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"The goal is simple: keep the system safe while calibrating the rules so new and smaller players can compete on merit. That's how customers win." – Jamie Jermain, Emerge Co-Founder

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The inquiry recognised that regulatory burden often hits smaller players disproportionately hard, forcing investment into compliance rather than customer experience. Meanwhile, the big banks simply absorb these costs as part of doing business.

What's encouraging is that the report emphasises fair access to payments infrastructure and fintech innovation – exactly the kind of forward-thinking approach our sector needs.

This is exactly why we started Emerge. While traditional banks prioritise shareholder profits, we're laser-focused on transparent pricing, smart spending tools, and support that doesn't make you want to throw your phone out the window.

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"We're not here to be just another bank. We're here to be what banking should have been all along." – Jermain

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The report shouts-out that fintechs "are likely to provide the biggest competitive opportunities in banking services" – validation of exactly what we've been building toward since our inception.

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"Kiwis deserve financial systems built for them, not just shareholders. This report gives the government a clear roadmap, and we're already implementing the solutions it envisions." – Jovan Pavlicevic, Emerge Co-Founder

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With the Reserve Bank set to review capital requirements following this inquiry, we're prepared to scale our impact once these barriers are addressed. We're already serving businesses with smart accounts and spend controls, families through SquareOne, and preparing to launch our personal banking app.

The path forward is clear. New Zealand banking is ready for change, and we're here to deliver it.