And wherever I travelled in New Zealand outside Auckland I was met by people asking why they had to face high real interest rates and a rising real exchange rate when, they claimed, the only inflationary pressures in the country were in Auckland. And always my answer was the same.
Customer service and financial inclusion Let me mention here that the customer, broadly defined, does not mean only the existing clientele of the banks but also includes the potential user of the banking services who could enter the domain of banking, some time in future. In this context, therefore, the role of the banks does not end with only serving their existing customers.