The Reserve Bank has indicated that in 2019 it will explore the possibility of creating a disclosure dashboard for the insurance sector, following the popularity of its Financial Strength Dashboard.
Launched in May, the dashboard is an innovative, online, interactive tool for sharing bank data which allows the public to better understand and compare banks’ businesses and risks.
The central bank said visitors and feedback on the Reserve Bank’s dashboard have exceeded expectations.
Dashboard usage statistics show it had more visits in its first 24 hours than its predecessor typically received in an entire year.
Dashboard usage statistics show it had more visits in its first 24 hours than its predecessor typically received in an entire year.
Reserve Bank Head of Prudential Supervision, Toby Fiennes, said “[The dashboard] not only challenges banks to be open and transparent with their disclosures, but also gives the public the opportunity to take an active interest in monitoring their bank’s performance.”
He added the majority of visitors to the dashboard are New Zealanders and 15 percent of users so far are return visitors, indicating that a proportion of users see the dashboard as a resource, rather than “just a one-off curiosity”.
Fiennes said the Bank is seeking further improvements with the dashboard and welcomes more feedback on its usefulness.
“We’re aware that simply publishing the Dashboard will not be enough to engage all our stakeholders. This is why we are proactively seeking engagements with all groups. Efforts to enhance financial literacy and further accessibility will continue,” Fiennes said.
Future work to develop the Dashboard includes introducing an Application Programme Interface to enable data to be easily mashed with other sources. A te reo Māori version of the Dashboard is also planned.
Click here to view the dashboard.