David Cunliffe

Wellington, Sept 2 NZPA - An inquiry by opposition MPs into banks starts today, but none of the major banks will attend.

Labour, the Greens and the Progressive Party are holding the inquiry into the difference between bank interest rates and the official cash rate set by the Reserve Bank.

They decided to hold it after government MPs used their majority on the finance and expenditure select committee to block an inquiry.

Labour finance spokesman David Cunliffe said he received letters from ANZ-National, Westpac, ASB and BNZ ahead of yesterday's submissions deadline.

All four declined to appear before the committee.

Kiwibank chief executive Sam Knowles will be the first submitter at 9.30am today.

Representatives from BERL, Finsec, Federated Farmers, and Research New Zealand will also appear.

Mr Cunliffe said over 40 total submissions had been received.

"Kiwis with mortgages deserve to know if banks are passing through all the recent cuts to the OCR."

The committee sits today and tomorrow at Parliament and is open to the public.