A "staggering 20%" of New Zealanders are prepared to skip a mortgage repayment over the next year if they run short of cash according to a new study.

Auckland

Auckland

AXA Asia Pacific, and its parent AXA SA, have agreed to give National Australia Bank until July 15 to convince the Australian regulator its acquisition of the trans-Tasman wealth management businesses will not hinder competition.

South Canterbury Finance has rolled over a block of debentures coming due in the coming months, helping ease its looming liquidity crisis, making a significant improvement in the ailing finance company's reinvestment rate and maturity profile.

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 4.5 per cent.

Prudential has reopened discussions with AIG in an effort to scale down the US$35 billion price tag of its proposed acquisition of Hong Kong-based insurance business, AIA.

NZF Group, which recently launched the country's first residential mortgage-backed securities in three years, has posted a full-year loss after it wrote-down the value of a joint venture with Mike Pero Mortgages.