Month: May 2012

Good public purse management keeps cost of credit down

Prudent management of the public purse is essential to keeping down the cost of credit said the New Zealand Bankers’ Association today in response to Budget 2012. The Association supported moves to ensure borrowing costs for the government, householders and business owners do not increase unnecessarily. Initiatives that kept the NZ dollar at a realistic… Read more »

Flipside of interest rate cuts

Recent cuts in fixed interest rates highlight the level of intense competition in the New Zealand banking sector. This is good news for borrowers, but will impact on returns for bank depositors. Interest rates are at historically low levels. This is due to a drop in wholesale interest rates as a result of ongoing uncertainty… Read more »

Reserve Bank needs to promote banking competition after big 4 made more profit in 4yrs after crisis than before it, Green Party says

New Zealand Bankers Association CEO Kirk Hope told interest.co.nz that there was a high level of competition between New Zealand banks. Banks in New Zealand also contributed around NZ$6 billion to the economy each year via their own operating expenses – mostly wages to over 25,000 employees – and taxes paid in New Zealand.

US taxman’s long arm threatens costly Kiwi headaches

New Zealand financial institutions are fighting a United States tax that threatens to saddle them with millions of dollars in regulation costs and could end up costing Kiwi consumers. Outright opposition was not an option because non-compliant institutions would be slapped with hefty withholding penalties. It was “a very likely outcome” that those increased regulatory costs… Read more »