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Time for Kiwis to refocus their financial strategies
11 August 2016
Time for Kiwis to refocus their financial strategies
Record low interest rates are an opportunity for households to pay down their home loans and to focus on saving, ANZ New Zealand CEO David Hisco said today.
ANZ announced today it will lower floating home loan rates by 0.05% p.a. to 5.59% p.a. but will increase rates for some term deposits by up to 0.30% p.a. to 3.60% p.a. in response to the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate cut.
To continue support for the business community, particularly farmers, floating rates for Commercial, Agri and Business loans will be reduced by 0.15% p.a.
Mr Hisco said ANZ was refocusing its lending and borrowing emphasis.
“On the deposits side, we have five times as many customers as those with home loans. Lifting term deposit rates will help customers grow their savings,” Mr Hisco said.
“We are sending a strong signal today to New Zealanders that at a time of record low interest rates, it is more responsible to pay down home loans and save, than borrow more. New Zealanders need to consider changing their financial strategies.”
So that first home buyers weren’t disadvantaged by the changes, ANZ also today launched a special home loan package.
Only available to first home buyers using KiwiSaver, it will include a 0.20% p.a. discount on the prevailing ANZ standard variable interest rate and access to ANZ Buy Ready, a comprehensive set of tools, resources and special benefits to help people through the house purchase process.
“The Reserve Bank’s decision to cut the OCR to try and drive the New Zealand dollar lower is the right move to protect our export industries which employ many Kiwis,” Mr Hisco said.
“Dramatically lowering lending rates would only throw fuel on the fire in an overheated housing market. That would be irresponsible and negate any economic benefit to New Zealand and drive up the country’s debt as banks seek expensive offshore funding for increasing home loan books.
“While this may mean we write fewer investment loans, we believe it is the right thing to do.
“Meanwhile, we still want to help first home buyers and commercial, agriculture and business customers.”
He said ANZ would monitor the impacts of this decision and may adjust its market position in future to ensure it remained competitive.
Summary
ANZ Floating Rate Home Loans, ANZ
Flexible Home Loans and ANZ Business Flexible Facility loans
down 0.05% p.a.
But some ANZ Term Deposits increased by
up to 0.30% p.a.
Commercial, Agri and Business floating
loans down 0.15% p.a.
Launch of first home buyers package
with a 0.20% p.a. discount on the floating home loan
rate
ends
ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited
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We're passionate about helping our customers make their money work harder and equipping them to make better financial decisions. Whether it's travelling the world, buying a home, building a business, investing for the future or protecting their family's future, we use our financial strength and expertise to help make it happen.
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