ASB adjusts interest rates
18.1.225 ASB has lifted some of its fixed home loan and term deposit rates and lowered its 6-month home loan rate to a market leading 4.65%, in response to longer term wholesale rate movements. Fixed mortgage rates are influenced by a variety of different market forces, including customer deposit rates, operating costs, the cost of overseas funding and wholesale interest rates. Unlike variable rates which are connected to the Official Cash Rate (OCR), fixed rates are more influenced by...
ANZ predict a rate cut next week
17.11.25 ANZ Bank economists expect a 25bp cut in the OCR to 2.25% by the Reserve Bank monetary policy committee on Wednesday 26 November. “We don’t expect the RBNZ to cut further next year (barring a global shock) but it would be politic to leave the door open to that possibility in order to head off a potential U-turn in monetary conditions over the summer,” said Sharon Zollner, chief economist. “The data since the RBNZ’s frontloaded 50bp cut in October have been much as the RBNZ expected....
Waiting for the upcoming OCR call
5.10.25 Banking economists are expecting the RBNZ to cut the Official Cash Rate by 25bp to 2.75% this week. ANZ Bank’s chief economist for New Zealand Sharon Zollner has noted that dovish messaging leaves open the option of a 50bp cut in November “and thereby prevents monetary conditions tightening on the day. “There are also good arguments for frontloading easing; we’d put 35% odds on a 50bp cut. “The NZIER’s Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion could move the dial if it suggests a markedly...
Air NZ raises A$300m in Aussie
24.9.25 Air New Zealand has successfully completed a A$300 million 7-year fixed-rate bond issuance under its wholesale Australian Medium Term Note (AMTN) programme. The senior unsecured notes carry a fixed coupon of 5.179% per annum representing an issue margin to benchmark of 137 basis points and mature on 30 September 2032. The issuance was well subscribed with a final order book of approximately A$2.3 billion. The transaction was open to institutional investors only and has an expected...
Auckland Airport considers making bond offers
23.9.25 Auckland International Airport is considering an offer of fixed rate bonds maturing in April 2031 to New Zealand retail investors and to institutional investors. Any such Retail Offer will be made pursuant to the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 as an offer of debt securities of the same class as Auckland Airport’s existing quoted debt securities. The bonds are expected to be quoted on the NZX Debt Market. It is expected that full details of the Retail Offer will be released the week...
Bond offer upcoming from Meridian
Meridian Energy is considering making an offer of up to $250 million (with the ability to accept oversubscriptions of up to an additional $50 million at Meridian’s discretion) of 6.5 year unsecured, unsubordinated, fixed rate green bonds to institutional and New Zealand retail investors. It is expected that full offer details will be released on Monday, 1 September 2025, when the offer is expected to open. Meridian has an Issuer Credit Rating from S&P Global Ratings of BBB+ (stable...
RB MPC cuts OCR as expected
20.5.25 The Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank today voted to decrease the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 3%. The move immediately sparked a rally on the NZ sharemarket. New Zealand’s economic recovery stalled in the second quarter of this year. However, annual consumer price index inflation is currently around the top of the Monetary Policy Committee’s 1 to 3% target. “With spare capacity in the economy and declining domestic inflation pressure, headline inflation...
OCR on hold due to uncertain outlook
9.7.25 The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to leave the Official Cash Rate at 3.25%. The decision was reached by consensus with no vote taken. “The case for keeping the OCR on hold at this meeting highlighted the elevated level of uncertainty, and the benefits of waiting until August in light of near-term inflation risks,” according to the MPC. “The economic outlook remains highly uncertain. Further data on the speed of New Zealand’s economic recovery, the persistence of...
Westpac expect an August rate cut
10.7.25 Westpac economists interpreted the RBNZ’s commentary as indicating a reasonably strong presumption that the OCR will be cut at the August meeting. “The general view of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is that the economic and inflation outlook remains broadly like that presented in the May MPS,” said Westpac NZ chief economist Kelly Eckhold. “Near-term inflation pressures seem a touch stronger than seen in May, but the RBNZ’s medium-term view remains one where mid-target inflation...
Monetary policy centre stage
The domestic focus this week is on Wednesday’s RBNZ Monetary Policy Review. BNZ Markets continue to believe the economy requires lower interest rates ahead and they still forecast a 2.75% OCR low point. “However, we feel picking the July meeting outcome is a bit of a lottery given the difficulty in reconciling messaging from the RBNZ post the May MPS and the projected rate track,” says Doug Steel, senior economist. “It makes judging the Bank’s reaction function to the run of data about as...
