90 at 9: Big US bank failure; Kiwibank moves

Bernard Hickey details the key news over the weekend in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with ASB, including news that Alabama based Colonial failed over the weekend with US$25 billion in assets. This is the 6th largest bank failure in US history and shows how much trouble regional banks that are not 'too big to fail' are having, particularly now the housing bust has spread to commercial property. There are also questions now about how much money the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp has left in its fund.

Meanwhile, back in New Zealand, Kiwibank has lifted its longer term deposit rates by as much as half a percentage point as competition for local term deposits heat up.