Westpac NZ is standing by to help Kiwi businesses increase their energy resilience through the Gas Transition Loan Guarantee Scheme announced today.
The Government-backed scheme will support businesses to move off gas to alternative energy sources, as domestic gas supplies decline.
Westpac NZ Managing Director of Institutional and Business Banking, Reuben Tucker, says the announcement aligns with the bank's ambition to help customers switch to more affordable, sustainable and resilient forms of energy.
"By taking on some of the risk through this scheme, the government will enable banks to provide new loans for energy transition capital investments at lower interest rates and with longer payback periods. That's great news for those businesses but also for New Zealand's wider energy transition," Mr Tucker says.
"The ongoing disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict have been challenging for Kiwi businesses, but they've provided an opportunity to think about how they can future-proof their operations.
"We've been a market leader in financing our customer's energy transition needs, including recently partnering with Genesis Energy on working with their customers to finance their transition from gas, and have been pleased to share with political stakeholders what we've learned along the way."
Mr Tucker says Westpac has strong appetite to lend to businesses and households to increase their energy resilience, as part of its commitment to increase sustainable lending to $9bn by 2027.
"We've already seen examples of government collaborating with lenders to help unlock better outcomes for New Zealanders. For example we've worked closely with Treasury on the structure of their Community Housing Government Guarantee announced last year, already exceeding our original $100m allocation to help get more Kiwi families into their own homes.
"We'll continue working hard to help our customers on their energy transition - whether it's interest-free lending to home loan customers on EVs and solar panels, discounted lending for small businesses to improve their climate resilience and reduce energy bills, or specialist advice to help big businesses through their journey."
