NZF Group lost more than half its original $1.7 million investment in consumer lending specialist Finance Direct at the end of March.

The interests of PGG Wrightson Finance's (PWF) debt security holders not covered by the government's retail deposit guarantee scheme are likely to be enhanced by their holdings being switched to Heartland Building Society, says independent expert Northington Partners.

The sale of South Canterbury Finance's (SCF) Helicopters New Zealand(HNZ's) to Canadian Helicopters has been settled for $154 million, $6 million less than announced in April.

Heartland Building Society's deposit reinvestment rate is climbing but it wants to bed down its purchase of PGG Wrightson Finance before making any decisions on withdrawing from the government's retail deposit guarantee scheme.

Australia's Pepper Home Loans will be looking at opportunities in the New Zealand market once it completes the purchase of GE Capital's A$5 billion (NZ$6.47 billion) mortgage book which includes about A$800 million of New Zealand mortgages.

National Australia Bank is putting pressure on the EPIC infrastructure investment fund to pay down debt and this time Pyne Gould is coming to the rescue.

SBS Bank's March quarter profit nearly halved because of provisions against unquantifiable potential losses from the Christchurch earthquake while its mortgage book shrank slightly.

Geneva Finance, has gained a formal waiver of its banking covenant breach and has increased its reported annual net loss to $8.6 million after deciding to write off its $2.4 million deferred tax asset.

Economist Rodney Dicken's theory that the Reserve Bank should aim to maintain its official cash rate (OCR) at a neutral level through the business cycle isn't finding any support from other economists.

Fisher & Paykel Finance has decided to do without the government guarantee of its retail debentures more than six months before it has to.

Yet another company in the St Laurence group, St Laurence Property Development Fund, is about to collapse with Perpetual Trust warning it will seek to appoint liquidators on June 30.

Funding and liquidity remain key issues for Heartland Building Society and, on the face of it, its maturity profile looks awful with its acquisition of PGG Wrightson Finance only making the picture look even worse.

Basing monetary policy on economic forecasts is a fundamental flaw in the way the Reserve Bank operates, says economist Rodney Dickens.

Heartland Building Society would like to remove itself from the government's retail deposits guarantee scheme before it officially expires on December 31 if it feels its depositors are ready, says group treasurer Craig Stephen.

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has ordered GFNZ Group, formerly Geneva Finance, to stop issuing debentures while it investigates the breach of its banking covenant revealed in GFNZ's results late yesterday.

Heartland Building Society is to buy PGG Wrightson's finance company for a nominal amount of about $100 million although the net cash position will see Wrightson forking out $2.5 million.