The Reserve Bank has registered a new bank in New Zealand, but don't expect it will help in the home loan market. The newest bank is ICBC (NZ). It is a start-up bank which will begin with a capital base of $62.5 million, which will consist of contributed capital from its parent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
ICBC (NZ) will look to leverage its strong presence in China in an attempt to capitalise on increasing trade and economic flows between China and New Zealand. In its infancy, we expect ICBC (NZ) to focus on existing Chinese corporations operating in New Zealand.
It has a branch in Sydney, and that is focussed on operations such as trade finance, project finance, syndicated loans, corporate loans, foreign exchange, derivatives and remittances.
In rates news Westpac has matched BNZ's move yesterday with a one-year rate of 4.95% and introduced a three-year special of 5.99%.
