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Disclaimer: The information on this web site is issued by the New Zealand Debt Management Office (NZDMO) for informational purposes. It does not contain and is not an invitation or offer to buy or sell securities. Each page on this web site must be read in conjunction with the disclaimer at http://www.nzdmo.govt.nz.
Banking and Business Environment
Supervision of the Financial Sector
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand was established in 1934 as New Zealand's central bank by Act of Parliament. It is government-owned and holds most of the powers normally associated with a central bank. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 provides the Bank with autonomy to implement monetary policy within the framework of the Act and the Policy Targets Agreement entered into under the Act.
Since 1984, New Zealand's financial sector has undergone a process of comprehensive deregulation. The principal objective of deregulation has been to improve the efficiency of the financial sector by making it more competitive and to promote market discipline in financial markets. Policy initiatives have therefore been directed at reducing impediments to competition. Interest-rate and other controls have been removed and regulatory and legislative distinctions between different institutional groups have been reduced.
Deregulation contributed to rapid growth in money market activity, the development of a sizeable secondary market in government securities, the introduction of a wider range of financial instruments, including forward contracts, options and interest and exchange-rate futures, and the growing use of such devices to hedge interest-rate and exchange-rate risk.
Legislation affecting the financial sector is reviewed as necessary to ensure that it fits with modern banking practices. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act has been amended a number of times over the years to facilitate the coordination of home and host banking supervision between New Zealand and Australia, to extend the Reserve Bank's regulatory powers to include non-bank deposit takers and to allow the Reserve Bank to designate payment systems.
Registered Banks
The Reserve Bank, in addition to its role in determining and carrying out monetary policy, is the supervisory authority for New Zealand's registered banks. Entities wishing to use “bank” in their name or title must be authorised under the Reserve Bank Act as a “registered bank” and are subject to prudential supervision by the Reserve Bank.
The objective of supervision is to promote and maintain the overall soundness and efficiency of the financial system and to avoid significant damage to the financial system that could result from the failure of a registered bank. Until October 2008, there were no deposit insurance arrangements operating in New Zealand in respect of registered banks or other financial institutions. In line with many countries, the New Zealand government moved in October 2008 to provide a partial guarantee of retail deposits in registered bank and non-bank deposit takers and an opt-in guarantee scheme for wholesale debt issues by New Zealand financial institutions.
New Zealand's major banks are subsidiaries of Australian banks. The Reserve Bank recognises the principles underlying the Basle Concordat that the home country should supervise on a consolidated basis and the host country is responsible for the supervision of the operations in the host country. The Reserve Bank is working with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to improve regulatory co-ordination under this home-host model. The government has established a Trans-Tasman Council to progress co-ordination issues.
The Reserve Bank utilises a combination of regulatory, self and market disciplines to deliver its objectives. Market discipline has been achieved principally by requiring banks to publish disclosure statements at quarterly intervals. The disclosure statements contain comprehensive information on a bank's financial position and risk profile, director attestations as to the adequacy and proper application of a bank's risk management system and also include the disclosure of a bank's credit rating.
To instil regulatory discipline, registered banks are required to comply with conditions of registration such as minimum capital requirements and limits on lending to connected parties.
Should a registered bank experience financial distress, the Reserve Bank, with the approval of the Minister of Finance, has wide-ranging powers to intervene for the purpose of avoiding significant damage to the financial system. These powers include giving the bank directions, removing directors and implementing statutory management.
Before April 1987, New Zealand had four authorised banks. Bank registrations rose to a peak of 23 in August 1990. Since then, a number of banks have merged with other banks or withdrawn from the market, although this decline in numbers has been partly offset by new registrations. As at January 2009, there were 19 registered banks. Sixteen of these were subsidiaries or branches of foreign banks.
Most banks offer banking services on the Internet. Most of the registered banks and a few other financial institutions operate in the wholesale banking area, while some registered banks provide mainly retail banking services.
The Reserve Bank has recently implemented the Basel II international framework for bank capital adequacy. The large international banks were accredited to use the advanced Basel II approaches to determine minimum capital requirements. Banks not using their own models use the standard approach prescribed in Basel II. The Reserve Bank is in the process of implementing a liquidity policy for banks, consultation for which began in November 2008.
All inter-bank settlement and cheque-clearing is performed using modern and well-integrated computerised systems. Systems are in place to allow all large value payments to be settled on a real-time gross basis. Given their importance, the Reserve Bank oversees the operation of payment systems for the purposes of soundness and efficiency in the financial system.
Non-bank Financial Institutions
At present, it is not necessary to become a registered bank or to obtain a licence to accept deposits from the public. Non-bank financial institutions taking deposits from the public are subject to prospectus and trust deed requirements under the Securities Act 1978.
In September 2008, new legislation was passed increasing the prudential regulation of non-bank deposit takers. Under the new regime, ‘deposit-taker' will be defined in legislation and deposit-takers will have to be licensed by the Reserve Bank. They will also be subject to minimum prudential requirements that will be formulated by the Reserve Bank in consultation with the Securities Commission. Trustees will set the company specific requirements and oversee compliance with the prudential rules. Further legislation will be put in place to require all registered deposit takers to maintain policies and processes to check the suitability and integrity of prospective directors and senior managers. It is proposed that the Reserve Bank will have the power to disapprove proposed appointees and remove directors and senior managers that have already been appointed.
Another key feature of the registered deposit-taking framework will require registered deposit takers to obtain and disclose a credit rating from an approved rating agency (unless they hold assets of less than a minimum amount that is yet to be determined). These reforms will be implemented during 2009 and 2010.
The Cabinet also agreed that the Reserve Bank will be the prudential regulator and supervisor of the insurance sector. The key features of this regime are currently being refined with the aim of introducing legislation in 2010.