A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; Westpac and Heartland cut rates, Rabobank reports fatter profits, Lee Kuan Yew is dead, NZ and Korea sign big deal, swap rates and NZD rise

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Westpac today adjusted two of its 'special' rates lower, matching their main rivals. But even after these changes some of the smaller banks are still offering lower rates for the three and 5 year terms involved.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Heartland bank cut their 9 month term deposit rate to 4.35% from 4.75%, a -40 bps drop.

CONSISTENTLY CONFIDENT
Consumer confidence rose over the past three months (the index went from 114.8 to 117.4) and is once again comfortably above average, consistent with recent signs of buoyant retail activity. Surprisingly, the lift in confidence was biggest in rural regions and smaller centres. Confidence in the main urban centres continues to be healthy rather than exuberant. This Westpac MM quarterly survey data is very similar to the monthly ANZ RM survey data. 

HIGHER BANK PROFITS
Rabobank New Zealand has further strengthened its position in the rural banking market, recording above market rural lending growth, and reporting its highest net profit after tax of NZ$105.5 mln in 2014. Net lending growth was NZ$342 million in 2014, with the bank's rural lending portfolio growing by +4.5%, only marginally ahead of overall rural debt market growth of +4.3%.

A GIANT PASSES
Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, has died, leaving behind the unlikely nation that he and his colleagues fostered and built over five decades as his lasting legacy. "A man of rare qualities, Mr Lee’s courage, determination, commitment, character and ability made him a formidable leader who held the respect of Singaporeans and the international community alike," said John Key.

A BIG DEAL
John Key is in Korea and today signed a Free Trade Agreement with them. Korea is our sixth largest trading partner and the tariff savings will be large. Our exports into Korea attract NZ$229 mln a year in duties. Tariff reductions in the first year of the FTA alone will save an estimated NZ$65 mln and they will grow from there. The Agreement will progressively remove tariffs on 98% of New Zealand’s exports to Korea. This deal comes only a week after another big deal with Vietnam.

WHOLESALE RATES UP
Wholesale swap rates rose today by another +1 bp across the whole curve. Like the end of last week, we did not follow Wall Street's move down. Even the 90 day bank bill rate was up at 3.63%. It has been a long time since we have seen this sort of separation.

NZ DOLLAR CLIMBS
Check our real-time charts here.  The NZD climbed at the end of last week and today it has held its levels although it has gotten a little softer since late morning. It is now at 75.6 USc, at 97.2 AUc, and the TWI is at 80.3.

You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.