The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited has become the 19th registered bank in New Zealand.   The new bank, which is already registered in Australia, is the owner of ANZ National Bank Limited. According to the Reserve bank of New Zealand, the newly formed bank will function in only a limited capacity in New Zealand. It will not commence any commence any retail banking or lending to customers. It is only permitted to purchase mortgages from the ANZ National bank Group. The ... Read More

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand expanded the range of securities that it will except for use in its Liquidity Operations. With an emphasis on protecting the New Zealand financial system from unforeseen future financial fluctuations or negative situations, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has taken measures to ensure a high level of liquidity is available. The new policy is also a response to the more prudent, less liquid attitude of banks in today’s environment. The RBNZ policy change revolves around ... Read More

On the 4th of December the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut its Official Cash Rate by 1.5%, reducing it to a level of 5% from its previous 6.5%. The change was announced by Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard on the morning of the cut. The news was justified by the Reserve Bank’s worsening view of upcoming economic situations. Specifically, it was quoted that the Reserve Bank does not expect a respite in the recession until mid-2009 and a below average economic trend ... Read More

The Reserve Bank of Australia has surprised analysts by cutting the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 1%, 25 basis points above what many expected. The Reserve Bank of Australia has made its fourth OCR cut in a row. The Australian OCR now stands at 4.25 %. In total the OCR has fallen 3% since September. While it was expected that a cut would be made, many analysts believed it would be more along the lines of 0.75% and not the full 100 ... Read More