Nine To Noon for Tuesday 20 May 2025

09:05 Should banks be allowed to put fees on open banking?

Should banks be allowed to charge fintechs to access customer data? And could doing so stifle open banking innovations? Government officials are rethinking a proposal that would allow banks to charge financial technology platforms wanting to access customer data, such as budgeting apps. The move comes after MBIE's proposal to allow as much as $5 per month per customer drew the ire of many in the fintech sector - with some businesses saying the fees would threaten their viability. Lance Wiggs is an investor in the budgeting app Pocketsmith. He says the average customer would reach the proposed cap within 15 days, and the fee would make the business unviable. MBIE acknowledges the concerns and says it will provide more advice to the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister, Scott Simpson, ahead of a decision before December. Kathryn speaks to Lance Wiggs and Nick Houldsworth - co-founder of fintech Prosaic which provides an artificial intelligence tool to accountants, and Massey University Associate Professor of Banking, Claire Matthews.

09:20 Incurable side effect of cancer treatment in the spotlight

An incurable side effect of cancer treatment is in the spotlight as researchers work toward better understanding why it happens, and who it's most likely to affect. Lymphedema is a condition of localised swelling caused when the lymphatic system can't do its job of removing excess fluid from tissue, usually because of damaged or removed lymph nodes. The fluid builds up, causing pain and tightness, and while it can be mitigated, there is no cure, and funding for treatment is hard to come by. An estimated 40 percent of those who have undergone treatment for breast cancer have lymphedema in their arms as a result of removed lymph nodes near the breast, under the armpit. But the data is patchy, at best, with no national registry or numbers of people who have the condition. In 2023, Auckland University Bioengineering researcher Dr Hayley Reynolds secured Marsden Grant funding in an effort to better understand the condition. Catherine Davies, who is also with the Bioengineering Institute, recently finished treatment for breast cancer and now has lymphoedema. Dr Reynolds and Catherine join Kathryn from our Auckland studio.

09:45 USA correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben

President Trump has had a two-hour call with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and claims peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are imminent. The Supreme Court is considering birthright citizenship in the US. Joe Biden has aggressive prostate cancer. 

Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.

10:05 From Nazi Germany to Patagonia, lawyer Philippe Sands on his latest book

Philippe Sands is a world-renowned lawyer, writer and winner of the UK's biggest non-fiction prize for his book East West Street. That book was the first in a triolgy - part history, part memoir - documenting the legal and personal battles to bring to account Nazi war criminals and their disciples. His latest book, 38 Londres Street, completes the triology and focuses on two of the 20th Century's most ruthless war criminals - Chilean dictator Augusto Pincochet, and the Nazi SS Commander Walther Rauff and the connection between them. Philippe Sands has been at the Auckland Writers Festival and is now spending time with the Auckland University Law School.

10:35 Book review: Before the Winter Ends by Khadro Mohamed 

Emma Hislop reviews Before the Winter Ends by Khadro Mohamed published by Tender Press

10:45 Around the motu: Kelly Makiha in Rotorua

Kelly updates Kathryn on the latest events in Rotorua including unruly trail bikers clashing with parents at rugby fields, street racing-plagued residents welcome a law change to have vehicles destroyed or forfeited, John Wharekura’s appeal has been denied 23 years after murdering Tanya Burr, and the Rotorua Marathon was a hit as thousands took on the challenge.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist with the Rotorua Daily Post.

11:05 Business commentator Rebecca Stevenson

Xero's revenue hits the $2 billion mark and market watchers are discussing its potential to hit the US market. The Colorado-based but NZX-listed software company IkeGPS shares have been soaring on the back of optimism about the US economy and why a top economist says New Zealand stands to benefit from moves in China to boost consumption.

Rebecca Stevenson is a senior journalist at BusinessDesk.

11:30 The Metre Convention turns 150: We meet New Zealand's 'Little Miss Metric'

It's 150 years today since the Metre Convention was signed  - a pretty radical initiative at the time that had a massive global impact. Up until then, the world's measurements were pretty ad hoc, and as trade increased around the world there was an urgent need for some kind of standardisation. The Convention - also known as the Treaty of the Metre - ushered in the metric system. New Zealand started the transition to metric in 1969 and was fully metric by December 1976. Almost every country in the world, except the US, Myanmar and Liberia, uses the metric system. Jeannie Preddey knows perhaps better than most about what it meant to go metric. She's thought to be the first baby in New Zealand whose weight was announced in kilograms, rather than pounds. She became a mascot of sorts - dubbed "Little Miss Metric" and every birthday until she was ten (of course) she was given a "metric birthday party" by the New Zealand Metric Advisory Board.

11:45 Sports correspondent Glen Larmer

Ardie Savea and Moana Pasifika continue to have success, the Warriors win again and what does the Black Ferns draw mean for the team's prospects of a world cup defence later this year.