How dominant are the big four banks?

We are looking for readers help to complete a survey of major NZ businesses

3rd Oct 11, 4:36pm by David Chaston

The big four New Zealand banks are large businesses - and central to how our economy works.

ANZ recently claimed to be the "biggest taxpayer" in the country.

But just how do they rank compared to other large New Zealand enterprises - well, private sector ones at least. A lot is said and assumed about the relative size and influence of our major banks, so we decided to do a survey.

That survey is here »

However, the devil is, as always, in the detail, and key bits of information are hard to get.

We thought we would ask you, our readers, for some assistance to complete the work.

Q1: Do you have any of the missing data, or can point us to where we may source it in an authorative way? We are especially interested in getting up-to-date employee numbers.

Q2: Have we missed an important NZ business that should be included on the list? (And where do we go to get the necessary data?)

You can either post the information in the comment section below, or email us at updates@interest.co.nz

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3 Comments

by scarfie | 4th Oct 11, 12:21am 1317640906

Here is a list of the top 100 companies by employee David, which could be useful for you.

Going by that they would certainly be in the running, but i reckon there migh be a few ahead of them. Fonterra don't seem to pay much and spotless might be a bit light, but the other private companies must surely be up there.

by Gummy Bear Hero | 4th Oct 11, 12:56am 1317642960

Someone may want to re-count , but Gummy came up with only 58 private companies on that list . The other 42 are government departments , universities , gov't. entities , or local councils . ... . 11 of the first 20 are government !

..... how can unfettered capitalism be the problem , Bernard , when 40 % + of the economy is in the pockets of the bureaucrats ?

by Dutyfree | 4th Oct 11, 2:42am 1317649321

And Gummy is onto the problem. The stock market in NZ does not represent a good cross section of the economy. For decades now, investing in the NZ index has bascially been investing in one or two large companies, Telecom, Fletchers etc. So instead of getting a good exposure to NZ's commodity competitiveness, you get a phone company.

So if as an ordinary New Zealander you want to share in dairy investment you basically have to buy a farm etc.