Wellington, Aug 31 NZPA - Tough economic times are causing "food stress" in poor and middle-class households as they cut back spending on food to cope with costs such as rent or mortgage payments, researchers say.

Wellington, Aug 30 NZPA - Current and former central bankers from around the world meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, say an uneven global economic recovery is likely to stay on track despite worries about the US economy.

Wellington, Aug 27 NZPA - ANZ and National Bank of New Zealand have cut their fixed mortgage lending rates.

For years now mortgage brokers have debated the subject surrounding charging a fee as opposed to being paid a commission from the lender. Naturally such a radical change is fraught with resistance, but it may be something that in time will be imposed on the industry as main stream lenders opt for

Wellington, Aug 18 NZPA - A measure of home loan affordability shows it improving to its best level in 10 months, with fixed mortgage rates and house prices both lower.

Wellington, Aug 13 NZPA - ANZ and National Bank of New Zealand are decreasing some of their fixed home loan rates. ANZ said its two-year rate falls to 6.79 percent from 6.85 percent and its 30-month rate falls to 6.89 percent from 6.99 percent. The changes are effective from tomorrow.

Wellington, Aug 11 NZPA - ASB is earning lower margins on deposits in an extremely competitive market, but a move by customers from fixed-rate to higher margin floating-rate home loans is an offsetting influence, according to parent Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).

Wellington, Aug 10 NZPA - Kiwibank, National Bank and BNZ are the latest banks to lift their floating mortgage rates and cut longer term fixed rates after the Reserve Bank hiked the official cash rate by 25 percentage points to 3 percent last month.

Wellington, Aug 10 NZPA - Westpac and TSB banks have joined ANZ and ASB in lifting floating mortgage rates and cutting longer term fixed rates. The moves follow the decision on July 29 by the Reserve Bank to lift the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent.

Wellington, Aug 9 NZPA - ANZ is raising its variable mortgage rate and is cutting its 18-month, two-year and three-year fixed rates.

Wellington, Aug 5 NZPA - ASB has become the first bank to hike its floating mortgage rate after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent on July 29.

Has Alan Bollard put pressure on banks to hold rates and lower their margins by increasing the OCR or, will it be business as usual, OCR goes up, retail interest rates go up?

Wellington, July 29 NZPA - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) lifted the official cash rate (OCR) 25 basis points to 3 percent but caught financial markets on the hop by hinting it may pause in future due to the weakness of the recovery.

Wellington, July 29 NZPA - The Reserve Bank lifted the official cash rate 25 basis points to 3 percent, as widely expected, but indicated the pace of further rate rises may be slower than suggested earlier.

Wellington, July 29 NZPA - The Reserve Bank has lifted the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent, as widely expected. The Reserve Bank had also increased the rate by 25 basis points seven weeks ago off a record low 2.5 percent, where it had been for 13 months.

Wellington, July 28 NZPA - Australian workers are being paid even more than their Kiwi cousins since National became the Government.

Fixed Rate, Floating Rate, or a Combination?

Wellington, July 22 NZPA - Consumer confidence has fallen for the second consecutive month in the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan poll, but it is unclear if recent global market volatility is the reason.

Wellington, July 5 NZPA - Kiwibank has lowered its three, four and five-year fixed mortgage rates, keeping them to around the same level as those of the major banks, but the lower rates are not necessarily seen as giving a boost to the faltering housing market.

Wellington, July 1 NZPA - State-owned Kiwibank has triggered a new battle in the home loan market with ANZ National Bank moving quickly to cut fixed lending rates after Kiwibank cut its two-year fixed home loan rate.

Wellington, July 1 NZPA - Kiwibank is cutting its two-year fixed home loan rate to 6.99 percent per annum from 7.30 percent. Kiwibank chief executive Sam Knowles said the rate cut was to give some certainty to customers who are concerned about interest rate volatility.

Wellington, June 23 NZPA - Receivers of the failed New Zealand finance company, Bridgecorp, are seeking legal advice after Fiji's coup administration issued a decree effectively seizing control of the Momi Bay development there.

Wellington, June 21 NZPA - ANZ National Bank, Kiwibank and Westpac are increasing some mortgage rates after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent earlier this month.

Wellington, June 21 NZPA - ANZ National Bank and Kiwibank are increasing some mortgage rates after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent earlier this month.

Wellington, June 21 NZPA - ANZ National Bank has increased its variable, six month and one year mortgage rates after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent earlier this month.

Wellington, June 17 NZPA - ASB has become the first major bank to raise its variable mortgage rate since the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked the official cash rate by 25 basis point to 2.75 percent last week.

Wellington, June 10 NZPA -The start of increases in the official cash rate may prompt some borrowers to move to fix the floating part of their debts, economists said.

Wellington, June 10 NZPA - Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard sees the decision to lift interest rates as a start to the removal of "extraordinary" stimulus from monetary policy.

Wellington, June 10 NZPA - The Reserve Bank has edged its key interest rate up, after holding it at a record low for 13 months to fight the impacts of the global financial crisis.

Wellington, June 10 NZPA - The Reserve Bank has lifted the official cash rate to 2.75 percent from the historic low 2.5 percent where it has stood since April 2009. NZPA WGT nb