The Finance Minister's rejecting an accusation it's using Covid as an election tactic.  

Nicola Willis announced an independent review this year of the monetary policy the Reserve Bank delivered during the pandemic. 

It'll be released just weeks before the election, and Labour's Chris Hipkins claims the Government's aiming to revive pandemic conspiracies. 

Willis told Mike Hosking she suspects it wouldn’t have mattered what the timing is, the reaction would’ve been the same – their political opponents saying they shouldn’t be asking these questions.  

But she says when the Reserve Bank did its own review, the results showed there hasn’t been enough examination into their decisions.  

The Finance Minister is also insisting she's keeping an eye on the banking space as ASB reports higher margins.  

The bank saw modest growth in the second half of last year, reporting a net profit of $765 million.  

Its net interest margins ticked up six basis points to 2.35%.  

Willis says told Hosking more people are already looking for better banking deals, and she's working to improve competition.  

She says she's comparing our regime internationally, especially with the banks' Australian counterparts, and looking at whether we're getting our settings right.  

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