Banks/Banking in New Zealand

The economy of New Zealand fell during recession and prior to global financial crisis; the central bank was prompted for substantial reductions namely, cutting interest rates, besides promoting fiscal stimulus steps. In 2009, the economy rose from recession, but showed very limited growth.

The government plans in the future include enhancing productivity growth, development of infrastructure and restricting government spending. The system of banking in New Zealand is highly sophisticated offering full range of services to visitors and New Zealanders.

Banks in New Zealand

The banks in New Zealand include mainly the Central Bank, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The other commercial banks in New Zealand are ASB Bank, ANZ National Bank, Kiwibank Ltd, Westpac New Zealand, Bank of New Zealand and National Bank of New Zealand. The foreign banks are Citibank, Barclays, TSB Bank Ltd, Deutsche Bank and HSBC.

Functions of Banks

The Reserve Bank implements government monetary policies as per annual directives and supervises the system of banking in New Zealand. Reserve bank has many other portfolios such as controlling exchange rate, implementing government’s financial policy, managing money supply, supervises commercial banks and provides banking service.

The savings banks concentrated only on personal savings and residential property mortgages. However, the financial sector deregulation in the ‘80s facilitated commercial banks to come into the market. The marketing expertise and the financial clout of the commercial banks have resulted in the transformation of many saving banks into commercial banks.

The Bank of New Zealand is the largest in the asset terms and is completely Australian-owned. The Westpac NZ and the National Bank are the top banks in New Zealand having the largest market share and is also a government’s banker that shows in 2005 it had 1.3 million customers. Estimation shows that only 12 % banking market of New Zealand is operated by indigenous banks.

Banks in New Zealand are internet and telephone based. PSIS represent a financial institution that offers banking services. It is not a bank but functions identical to the New Zealand Post Offices that work under the name Kiwi bank. There are international banks in Wellington financial district alone. However, all the New Zealand banks are highly automated and efficient.