Dear Reserve Bank of New Zealand,

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request:

1. Any analysis, research, or supervisory observations regarding bank lending practices for specialised infrastructure assets in rural or regional contexts, particularly where:
- Assets have specialised use cases with limited secondary markets (e.g., telecommunications towers, network equipment, industry-specific infrastructure)
- Borrowers lack residential property security but operate viable businesses with stable cash flows
- Asset illiquidity rather than business credit risk appears to constrain lending decisions

2. Any assessment of whether regulatory capital requirements, risk weighting frameworks, or lending standards create systematic barriers to financing certain infrastructure types, even where underlying business fundamentals are sound.

3. Any observations from bank supervision activities regarding whether commercial banks adequately serve infrastructure financing needs in rural areas, or whether gaps exist that constrain economic development or essential service provision.

4. Any advice provided to government regarding:
- Credit market gaps or failures in rural or infrastructure financing
- Whether Crown development finance, guarantees, or alternative mechanisms could address market failures without displacing viable commercial lending
- International approaches to rural infrastructure financing where commercial credit markets are insufficient

I understand the Reserve Bank's primary focus is monetary policy and financial stability rather than sectoral development policy, but request any observations relevant to credit market functioning and potential market failures in rural infrastructure financing.

Context: Some evidence suggests that rural infrastructure providers may face systematic financing barriers related to asset characteristics rather than credit risk, potentially representing a market failure. I am seeking to understand whether such barriers have been observed or analysed.

Yours faithfully,

Sam Brown