The New Zealand Government is proposing changes to the Building Society Act to stop NZ registered building societies from operating overseas, reports interest.co.nz. The proposed amendments would require all services provided by NZ registered building societies to be available to people living in NZ and require all building societies to have a director living in either NZ or Australia. The proposals are a response to building societies registered in NZ and riding on the country's good international reputation but operating outside the Reserve Bank's non-bank deposit taker regulatory regime because they do not take deposits from New Zealanders.