South Canterbury Finance faces a billion dollar liquidity risk this year and it is banking on getting accepted into the government's extended guarantee scheme to help ease some of the strain.

AXA New Zealand increase insurance sales before tax changes boost the cost of life insurance from July.

AXA New Zealand's new owners, regardless of who they are, have no reason to mess with a winning formula, according to the life insurer's chief executive Ralph Stewart.

House values rose 4.4% in the year through January in what was a "patchy" first month for 2010.

UPDATED: Investors in the Equitable Mortgage Income Trust are quietly shuffling into debentures as the group winds up its Mortgage Income Trust.

The Reserve Bank's harsher liquidity controls on banks has fuelled the tough competition for customer deposits, even as consumers become more reluctant to put their money in the bank.

The Reserve Bank is considering introducing new liquidity controls for non-bank deposit takers as part of the new prudential regime which comes into effect next month which require firms have risk management plans.

Investors in the beleaguered First Step and First Up investment trusts should expect receive further repayments this year after the funds, which are being wound up, wrote off a further $73 million in the 2009 financial year.

Wellington remains one of the stronger housing markets according to the latest Property Cycle report from Mike Pero Mortgages.

Finance Direct, which is partly owned by NZF, was the main mover with rates last week, while Westpac was the only bank to adjust term deposit rates.

Geneva Finance is facing an uncertain future after its wholesale funder Bank of Scotland International indicated it is unlikely to extend its facility with the listed finance company.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard kept the official cash rate at a record-low 2.5% as expected, and said the gradual recovery in the economy was in line with expectations and gave him breathing space to stick to his timeline of a mid-year rate hike.

UPDATED: Marchmont Securities Trust, which is offering investors in Strategic Finance as little as 10 cents in the dollar for the debenture stock, is refusing to divulge any details about itself and has stalled on answering questions about the offer.

NZ Funds Management, which engineered a buyout of  Money Managers in 2008, is cautiously optimistic about 2010 after the firm's profit slumped by a third last year.

Marac Finance has unveiled its non-guaranteed deposits, which offer a strong premium for existing customers to switch over.

PGG Wrightson Finance, the finance unit of listed rural services company PGG Wrightson, expects the company's to improve through 2010 after a rough couple of years in the financial sector.