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A review of things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; ICBC raises deposit rates, affordability pressures spread, more no-interest loans, vouchers redux?, wholesale rates slip

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; ICBC raises deposit rates, affordability pressures spread, more no-interest loans, vouchers redux?, wholesale rates slip

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
There are no changes to report today.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Giant Chinese bank ICBC has changed its local deposit rates, increasing its offers for most key terms from 6 months to 5 years. In fact, today's changes push their rates back towards the 5% mark, and over that for deposits of $50,000 and greater for terms of 3, 4 and 5 years.

SPREADING PRESSURE
Housing unaffordability issues are spreading beyond first home buyers in Auckland and Queenstown. Young families looking to move up to a median priced house are coming under pressure too especially in those two centres and second rung buyers will also be looking over their shoulders now.

STAGE 2 - NO INTEREST LOANS
No interest loans of up to $1,000 for a maximum of 12 months are now available to people on low incomes through The Salvation Army’s centres in Manukau and Waitakere. These loans can be used to purchase essential services or household items that directly improve the lives of borrowers. On average, a StepUP loan "saves each customer more than $2,000 in interest over the life of the loan" compared to if they had borrowed the same amount through 'alternative lenders' (like loan sharks and pay-day lenders) says BNZ who are part of a group that also includes Good Shepherd, the MSD, and the Salvation Army.

A VOUCHER FUTURE?
The Productivity Commission today issued a draft Report on more effective ways to deliver social services. It wants to see more new ideas and creating the conditions for their spread and uptake, less use of top-down arrangements currently in place, locating decisions closer to the frontline, and putting more choice in the hands of clients. It also wants better integration, and delivering social services in ways that further empower Mäori communities. Vouchers may be making a comeback although they will be fought tenaciously by the bureaucracy, the unions and others who live off top-down management.

WHOLESALE RATES
Wholesale swap rates slipped another -1 bp for terms of 2, 3 and 4 years today but all other terms were unchanged. The 90 day bank bill rate was up +1 bp again to 3.63%.

NZ DOLLAR STOPS FALLING
The New Zealand dollar is back rising again. As of late this afternoon it is at 76.3 USc, 96.9 AUc, 70.2 euro cents, and the TWI is at 80.5. Check our real-time charts here.

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

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End of day UTC
Source: CoinDesk

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1 Comments

http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/pimco-calls-on-banks…
Quite an interesting view from the consumers/borrower point of view

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