Banking industry facts and figures

Economic contribution

In 2018 banks made a direct contribution of $7.6 billion to the New Zealand economy.

Banks spent $5.4 billion running their businesses in New Zealand.

Banks paid $2.2 billion in tax in 2018.

Banks employ over 25,000 people. 

The five major banks paid $2.6 billion to employees nationwide.

Source: KPMG Financial Institutions Performance (FIPS) Review of 2018

Industry strength

New Zealand’s financial system is sound and risks have abated a little. Bank capital and liquidity ratios are in excess of current regulatory requirements, and have increased over the past 12 months.

Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Financial Stability Report, November 2018

New Zealand ranked first in macroeconomic stability in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2018.

The soundness of New Zealand’s banks continues to rank highly (ninth out of 140 countries).

Source: World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report 2018

Banking by numbers

New Zealand has over 900 bank branches.

New Zealand has over 2,500 bank ATMs.

New Zealand banks have an asset base (total assets) of $530 billion.

In 2018 the return on assets was 1.12%.

Banks’ average return on equity in 2018 was 14.88%.

Banks’ average net interest margin in 2018 was 2.12%, up from 2.08% in 2017.

In 2018 the five major New Zealand banks had an average total capital adequacy ratio of 14.85%.

Source: KPMG FIPS Review of 2018

Loans to households at December 2018 totalled $267.3 billion.

Loans to businesses (excluding agriculture) at December 2018 totalled $108.3 billion.

Loans to the agricultural sector at December 2018 totalled $62.5 billion.

Source: RBNZ C5 Sector lending (registered banks and non-bank lending institutions)