The Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson has issued her wish list to improve the retirement system, calling for cross party agreement, trialling sidecars and more.

ANZ Bank New Zealand held its reliance on mortgage advisers steady in the six months ended September compared with the six months ended March.

The numbers are showing convincingly that Bank of New Zealand is again shifting away from using mortgage advisers to originate home loans.

Westpac New Zealand accelerated its mortgage lending in the six months ended September, adding a net $1.72 billion in new loans in the six months, up from the $1.51 billion added in the six months ended March. Also, the share of business written by advisers grew.

Two challenger banks from each side of the Tasman say that fast turn-around times and reliability are key factors in doing business with mortgage advisers.

It was ASB’s KiwiSaver offerings’ turn in the limelight in the September quarter with its growth, balanced and conservative funds being the best performers in both the latest quarter and in the year ended Sept 30.

The Reserve Bank has decided the economy needs more help than it had previously forecast by cutting its official cash rate (OCR) by 50 basis points to 2.5%.

Westpac is proposing to alter the way it remunerates mortgage advisers who originate its mortgages and remove trail commissions.

New research looks into the competitiveness of the KiwiSaver market.

New Zealand Funds Management appears to have enjoyed a much better year than any year since 2021 when it received enormous performance fees.

Pathfinder has seen strong growth over the past year and attributes it to the increasing commitment of Kiwis “to investing in line with their values.”

Mortgage advisers have nothing to fear from the new home loan comparison calculator that the New Zealand Banking Association (NZBA) has just launched, according to leading adviser Bruce Patten of Loan Market.

A couple of mortgage industry stalwarts are back in the market with an offering of deposit bonds for those who want to buy a residential property, but who for various reasons either can’t get finance from their banks or wish to avoid the obligations such access requires.

Kiwibank continued to gain market share of mortgages in the June quarter, along with BNZ and ASB, while both ANZ and Westpac lost market share.

NZX’s Smart’s growth in funds under management (FUM) slowed to 3.8%, or by $500 million, to $14 billion in the six months ended June.

Heartland Group grew its reverse mortgage business in New Zealand by 15.5% with growth in total net lending slowed by higher repayments while the Australian business grew 18.5%.