Kiwibank has upped the ante in the home loan market dropping its two-year rate in anticipation that another official cash rate cut is coming.

Christchurch

Invercargill

Dunedin

AIG Life says although its parent company was on the brink of collapse last week proposals for insurance kept coming in.

Investors are being softened up for impending news that their returns from KiwiSaver won’t be great in the period up to September 30.

Tasman

Big four banks OK: S&P; Gilt Edge rating affirmed; Anti-Money Laundering bill released; RBNZ confident in financial system, helps lift liquidity.

This week could be called the week of bail-outs. First it was the US government saving AIG from, what reports suggest, a fatal situation. Meanwhile back home rich-listers Mark Hotchin and Eric Watson stepped up to the plate with up to $96 million for Hanover Finance.

Now that interest rates have started along their downward path the recommended borrowing strategy is to go short. By short we are talking six months or one year.

Taranaki

Standard and Poor’s has reconfirmed the ratings of AMP Life and Asteron’s parent company Suncorp Metway, but changed its view on their outlooks.

A New Zealand website has won an award for being the first in the world to offer a online underwriting.

American International Group (AIG) is being bailed out by the United States government to the tune of US$85 billion.

Home loan rates are currently subject to two opposing forces and it is not clear if there will be one decisive winner, or if the two will cancel each other out.