On Wednesday, in their latest survey, KPMG noted that Westpac launched a medium-term note issue. Seeking $100 million, they ended up selling $900 million at 2.22% interest. KPMG also noted that ASB did the same and was able to sell $600 million at 1.83% interest.
According to interest.co.nz this morning, it looks like Kiwibank has now completed their issuing and raised $400 million at 2.155%.
With the OCR being so low, it looks like banks are taking advantage of the low wholesale funds. However, it's not clear on whether this will result in lower interest rates for mortgages, or if banks are preparing for changes in the capital funding framework.
The Australian owned banks in New Zealand are already under pressure from the decision made by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to reduce capital funding for overseas subsidiaries. The New Zealand Reserve Bank is also expected to make their decision soon around changes to the capital requirements for banks. This decision could be the determining factor for any further movements in interest rates for consumers.
