Find Banking and Financial Services expertise in New Zealand
- Banks
- Regulation
- Development
Banks
The banking sector dominates New Zealand’s financial system with the country’s non-banking financial sector being relatively small. The banking sector is characterized by a significant amount of foreign ownership. By total owned assets, foreign owned banks constitute over 90% of the New Zealand’s banking sector and the large majority of these banks are Australian owned. The banks with the largest operations in the country include ANZ, Citibank, Rabobank, and JP Morgan Chase. As a whole the banking and financial services sector in New Zealand is involved in activities including insurance, investment banking, mortgage lending, foreign exchange, and corporate banking. As of 2012 there were 21 banks registered with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Regulation of Financial Services
The sector is regulated by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand with whom all banks must be registered in order to operate in the country. Alongside the supervision of commercial banks, the Reserve Bank oversees non-bank deposit takers, insurance companies and the payments system. The Bank is a member of the Council of Financial Regulators which consists of The Reserve Bank, The Financial Markets Authority with associate members of the Treasury and the Ministry of Economic Development. As a result of the large number of foreign owned banks, the Reserve Bank is associated with several international supervisory bodies such as the Executives’ Meeting of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks, the SEANZA Group (South East Asia and New Zealand and Australia) and participates in the Basel Committee Banking Supervision Group although it is not a member. It is also associated with the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) and in 2005 a Trans-Tasman Council of Banking Supervision brought the Reserve Banks of New Zealand and Australia and the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) together to increase co-ordination between Trans-Tasman banks where appropriate. World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013) ranks New Zealand 3rd out of 144 countries in soundness of banks, below only world leaders Canada and South Africa.
Development of Financial Services
New Zealand is a financially strong and developed country. The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index (2011) ranks New Zealand first out of 31 high income countries of the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in overall ease of doing business. In terms of getting credit New Zealand ranks 2nd, beaten only by the UK. New Zealand is in first place when it comes to protecting investors. The country is top ranking worldwide in other respects, it ranks 20th out of 144 countries in terms of availability of financial services according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013). New Zealand achieves the same ranking and a score of 5.2 (out of a possible 7) which is well above the world mean in affordability of financial services. In 2011 the World Bank reported that 99% of adults aged 15 and over held an account with a formal financial institution. With regards to ease of access to loans, New Zealand scores well, above the world mean and in 10th place worldwide. The World Bank’s financial inclusion data shows that, in 2011, 27% of adults aged 15 and over had taken out a loan in the last year. This economic strength is reflected in financing through local equity market where New Zealand scores 4.5, comfortably above the world mean of 3.5.
Banking and Financial Services organisations in New Zealand | |
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ABN AMRO Bank NV |
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ANZ National Bank Limited |
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Citibank NA New Zealand |
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Deutsche Bank AG |
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HSBC |
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Kiwibank Limited |
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Kookmin Bank |
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Rabobank |
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Superbank |
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