Anthony Healy: How a business growth fund partnership between banks & the Government works

<p>There's no reason why a partnership between the Government and banks making equity investments in small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) wouldn't work in New Zealand, says the man who heads up such a fund in Australia.</p><p>The NZ Government expects the major banks <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/business/120199/economic-development-minister-stuart-nash-expects-banks-be-position-decide-whether" target="_blank"><strong>to be in a position soon</strong></a> to decide whether to join it as an investor in a business growth fund (BGF). This comes after last year's Budget proposed a BGF to improve SMEs' access to finance, with up to <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/business/115923/budget-unveils-proposal-business-growth-fund-support-smes-assistance-bank" target="_blank"><strong>$100 million earmarked</strong></a> for Crown investment as a minority shareholder alongside banks.</p><p>Speaking in interest.co.nz's <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/of-interest-podcasts" target="_blank"><i><strong>Of Interest podcast</strong></i></a><i><strong>,</strong></i> Anthony Healy, CEO and Managing Director of the Australian Business Growth Fund (ABGF), explains how the ABGF works and sets out why he thinks such a fund is easily transferable to NZ. Healy, now based in Melbourne, was CEO of BNZ between 2014 and 2017.</p><p>"There are no differences that I could identify that would suggest the Fund wouldn't work [in NZ]. And I think the banks in New Zealand, their parent banks obviously supported the concept here, so it's not unknown to them," says Healy. "...the economies, the market, the business environment, they're very similar. The banking system's pretty similar."</p><p>Establishing a BGF was a recommendation made by the Government's Small Business Council in its <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/sites/default/files/embedded_images/the-new-zealand-small-business-strategy.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>New Zealand Small Business Strategy</strong></a> in 2019. </p><p>The ABGF received A$100 million from the Federal G