Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today (or if you work from home, before you shutdown your laptop).
MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Westpac NZ sliced 26 basis points off its 18-month rates, effective Monday, November 2, dropping its "special" rate to 5.19% and its "standard" rate to 5.79%. All current mortgage rates are here. And you can compare mortgage offers with our unique calculator that takes into account other costs and cashback incentives, here.
TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
No changes today. All updated term deposit rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here.
FONTERRA LIFTS MILK PRICE FORECAST
Fonterra has increased the midpoint of its 2026/27 Farmgate Milk Price forecast by 25c per kgMS to $9.75. CEO Richard Allen says this was driven largely by improving demand for whole and skim milk powders. You can read more about this here.
PROBABLE BINANCE HACK
Numerous reports and founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) suggest Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, may have been hacked. Binance has reportedly frozen more than US$2.5 billion in assets. The Wall Street Journal reports Binance has suspended transactions, with cybersecurity experts suggesting about $US5.5 billion may have been stolen. “We are aware of reports of a potential security issue, and we are actively investigating,” a Binance spokesperson told the WSJ. “At this stage, we have not confirmed any impact to user funds. Our security teams are reviewing all relevant information with urgency, and we will provide updates through official Binance channels as soon as we have verified information.”
User funds are safe! It does look like a hack on Binance. Appreciate the quick freeze from Tether (~$971m) and Circle (~$823m). I don't manage Binance (.com) anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered.
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 29, 2026
PRECINCT MOTHBALLS DOWNTOWN CAR PARK REDEVELOPMENT
Precinct Properties says it will not be proceeding with the redevelopment of the Downtown Car Park building in Auckland's CBD, for the time being at least. "Market conditions for long duration development projects have become materially more challenging, reflecting renewed inflationary pressure and elevated long term interest rates," the company said in a notice to the NZX. Precinct also said that the changed market conditions had reduced the confidence in the value of the project on completion, as well as increasing project costs during construction. However, the news may be welcomed by vehicle users in the CBD, because Precinct said it will retain ownership of the building and continue to operate it as a carpark. The company said it continues to believe that the building remains one of the strongest potential development sites in Auckland's CBD and future redevelopment of the site remains an objective.
HOUSING LENDING GROWS 5.5%, BUSINESS LENDING UP 5.3%
The latest monthly Reserve Bank sector credit update is out. It shows housing lending rose at an annual growth rate of 5.4% in September, down from 5.5% in August, to $404.758 billion. Consumer lending rose at an unchanged annual rate of 2.2% reaching $14.636 billion. The annual business lending rate increased to 5.3% in September from 4.1% in August, with business debt reaching $147.088 billion. And agriculture debt grew at an annual rate of 2.7%, up from 2.4%, reaching $65.714 billion.
NON-PERFORMING LOAN RATIOS STABLE
Fresh Reserve Bank data on bank loans by asset quality, as of September, shows total lending of $625.445 billion, with total non-performing loans of $4.006b giving a non-performing loan ratio of 0.6% which is unchanged from August. Housing comprised $399.563b of total loans with an unchanged non-performing loan ratio of 0.5%. The non-performing loan ratio for consumer lending was also unchanged at 0.9%, as was the business non-performing loan ratio at 1.1%, the 0.8% non-performing loan ratio for commercial property lending, the 1.2% non-performing loan ratio for other business lending, and the 0.5% non-performing loan ratio for agriculture lending.
DEPOSIT GROWTH
New Reserve Bank deposit data shows gross total deposits of $499.742 billion in September, up $3.445 billion month-on-month. Of that, $278.247b was household deposits, up $3.066b.
STAN CHRISTIAN NAMED RBNZ DIRECTOR OF PRUDENTIAL SUPERVISION
The Reserve Bank has appointed Stan Christian its Director of Prudential Supervision, effective November 1. Christian is currently Acting Director of Prudential Supervision, having been at the Reserve Bank since 2018.
NZ DOLLAR SLIGHTLY WEAKER AGAINST THE GREENBACK
The Kiwi dollar is a little weaker against both the US dollar and euro over the course of the day, and unchanged against the Aussie dollar at the time of writing. It's at US56 cents, versus US56.3c this morning, unchanged at AU80c, and at 50 euro cents versus 50.4 euro cents this morning.
NZX50 GAINS
The NZX50 appears to be ending the week on a positive note, gaining 0.2%, although the benchmark remains down 0.1% over the past five sessions. The index has also slipped 0.7% over the past month, but has gained 6.4% over six months and 2.0% over the past year. Market breadth was firmly positive, with 41 stocks advancing against 40 decliners. See more here.
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