A review of things you need to know before you go home on Tuesday; rate cut flurry, ex-Council boss is new BNZ chairman, confidence in financial system, swap rates jump, NZD falls

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
BNZ and SBS Bank both cut a variety of fixed rates today, and both set their fighting rate offer at 3 years. But it was SBS Bank who has ended up with the lowest for that term - 4.99%. And late in the day, TSB Bank has announced a 4.99%-for-2-years offer as well.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
TSB Bank, BNZ, and NZCU Baywide all announced term deposit and savings account rate reductions, generally cuts of -25 bps.

NEW CHAIRMAN FOR BNZ
BNZ chairman John Waller, the former head of PwC, is retiring in August from both BNZ and parent National Australia Bank's boards. He'll be succeeded by Doug McKay, a director since 2013 and the founding CEO of Auckland Council.

CHINA FACTORIES STILL WITHOUT GROWTH
Mid-sized factories in China are still reporting their output is contracting. Todays release of the flash HSBC PMI however sees the falls moderating. They report the fourth straight month of contraction, but the smallest movement in that series.

SERIOUS WEATHER
The Government has today declared the flooding in the lower North Island as being a medium-scale adverse event for the primary sector.

NOT SO GRUMPY
Confidence in New Zealand’s financial markets remains stable, with 60% of New Zealanders feeling confident in the state of the country’s financial markets. But 26% say they are not confident. The result is part of a survey into New Zealanders’ attitudes to financial markets, released by the Financial Markets Authority today. Believe it or not, older-Auckland-men are the three categories that have the most confidence.

NEW TOUGHER RULES
The law bringing the Budget-announced tightening of rules around property was launched today. Buyers and sellers of property will be required to provide their IRD numbers at the time of property transfer. Those who are tax residents in another country will also have to provide their Tax Identification Number from their home jurisdiction.  There will be an exemption for New Zealand residents’ main home. And to ensure our anti-money laundering rules apply, overseas people will be required to have a New Zealand bank account to get a New Zealand IRD number. This will also apply to New Zealanders who have been out of the country for three or more years. 

WHOLESALE RATES RISE
Swap rates rose +3 to +8 bps across the whole curve with a strong steepening bias. The 90 day bank bill rate was up +1 bp to 3.25%. Local markets have responded to overnight signals from Wall Street and London.

NZ DOLLAR DOWN
The NZ dollar has moved lower again today. In the absence of any local data it has fallen to 68.5 USc, 88.9 AUc, 60.8 euro cents and the TWI is still at 72.1.  Check our real-time charts here.

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