Three banks join New Zealand government's guarantee scheme
13/10/2008 17:01
Three retail banks confirmed today they will take part in a New Zealand
government scheme to guarantee bank deposits.
The New Zealand government is
to guarantee all deposits for two years, in banks, credit unions and finance
companies that opt into the scheme.
The deposit guarantee was announced
yesterday. It will cover all deposits for two years, worth up to 150 billion NZ
dollars (US$90 billion), as governments around the world take steps to minimise
the fallout from the financial crisis.
Banks and financial institutions with
less than 5 billion NZ dollars in deposits will get a free guarantee. The New
Zealand government will charge a fee to those with more than 5 billion NZ
dollars in deposits. A similar guarantee in Australia will last three
years.
ASB, Westpac and KiwiBank said the scheme provides extra assurance to
its customers that their money is safe is these uncertain times.
ANZ-National
and BNZ said they were looking at the details. They are Australian-owned, as are
Westpac and the ASB. KiwiBank owned by the New Zealand government.
New
Zealand Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard said the guarantee on deposits will
not lead to a flight of money to large banks.
Bollard told Radio New Zealand
today that the guarantee is over a "wide net" of deposit-taking institutions, to
reduce the risk people would pull their money out in favour of the larger
banks.
Financial Services Federation chief executive Justin Kerr welcomed the
inclusion of non-bank institutions in the scheme.
Xinhua
|
