[Alex]

Hi Folks,

I have something of an altruistic question about banks.

I've seen that the kiwibank pitch is that profits etc are recycled into the NZ economy, and I like the sound of this. Here in the UK, a lot of overseas banks are moving into the arena, e.g. Citi, and therefore the profits are taken out of the country.

I'd prefer to bank with a "kiwi-centric" bank if possible - although should a foreign bank offer me a killer mortgage deal, I might change this view :o

Does anyone know the relative merits of the various NZ banks? The BNZ offer of airmiles and tie-in with AirNZ is very tempting - they also said they sponsored NZ-centred activities and mentioned an NZ cyclist who will be going to the Olympics in 2008.

Thanks in advance :nice1

[Timbo]

If I recall correctly Alex, only 1 of the banks operating in NZ are actually NZ owned. Most are Australian I believe. I would therefore imagine that they would not necessarily have all things New Zealand as there main concern. Or am I just cynical?

[Avalon]

In fact not only are they all Aussie owned - but if you look at thier website for jobs - you will find a marked difference in their treatment of employees in the two countries. The Kiwis of course come off worse. Now in fairness it has to be said that this probably has more to do with Kiwi "Fringe Benefit Tax", but it just something I noticed once.

BTW Alex - I know ive a query to answer for you - im working on it - I honestly havent forgotten you!

Hugs

[Miffy]

Most of the banks with 'NZ' or 'kiwi' in their title are in fact owned by overseas corporations.
I think SBS is kiwi owned and run ???

We bank with Westpac. They sponser the air ambluance service, so although the profits may not be going back into NZ atleast we benefit (well hopefully we wont have to actually use it) from the service.

[Avalon]

PSIS may actually be Kiwi Owned - its kind of a Co-operative bank and from what I read about it briefly, the Customers are the "owners". A bit like John Lewis / Waitrose in the UK, but with customers not staff owning the company. I may have got the wrong end of the stick - but thats what it sounded like to me.

[Richard_from_Long Beach]

Kiwibank advertises themselves as New Zealand's only Kiwi-owned full service bank. www.kiwibank.co.nz

[dawn]

We've chosen the kiwibank, for 2 reasons, we also wanted a bank that was "kiwi centric" but we also needed an account we could open from the UK and they would let us do that.

We bank with Lloyds TSB in the UK (National Bank in NZ) and they wouldn't let us transfer our accounts.

This link is for opening a kiwibank account from overseas

https://kiwibank.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/kiwibank.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=203

[Avalon]

Dawn,

You can actually open other bank accounts from the UK here, including ASB (which is what we did - its through the commonwealth Bank of Australia in London), westpac and HSBC (not many branches here - really only in Auckland and you have to find someone in the UK who actually knows what they are doing).

National Bank here is no longer owned by Lloyds in the UK. It was sold a few years ago which is why you cant transfer anymore. You used to be able to by all accounts. Would have been useful!

[willsken]

I am intending to leave the bulk of my money as sterling at the moment. Would it be best to open a sterling account in NZ or leave it in the UK? Anyone know or even an opinion would help

[Avalon]

Nicola,

IF you are going to keep a sterling account in NZ - check wether it would be a current account that you could acces at any time or wether it would be a Term Deposit - which means the money is locked in (and often interest is only applied at the end of the term - so you lose out on compounding). The other thing to look at is the interets rate. We were being quoted a measly 3.5% for having to lock the money in for 6 months (compared to most term deposits which offer 7-9%, or our UK savings which are at 5%!).

It took a lot of weighing up - but we decided to leave the £ in the UK and wait till the excahnge rate improved,. We brought over as much as we needed for the house purchase and left some over there.

Its a very personal balance betwwen possible having a smaller mortgage and bringing £ over at a bad exchange rate. For us the rate has to reach about $2.85 for it to have been worth leaving £ in the UK earning a better rate of interest than either having it here in £ and earning less interest, or excanging it at $2.5

I hope that makes sence - ive been on a wine tour today - im a bit squiffy!

[willsken]

having to lock the money in for 6 months


Thanks Avalon

That has made up my mind. The interest rate could go up......then back down again in that time! :laugh

Hope you enjoyed the wine tour, I'm looking forward to many of those when I get to NZ :yes