A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; more mortgage rate cuts, the end for coal, BNZ's profits rise, Super Fund wins initial skirmish, swap rates flatter

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

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Kiwibank cut rates today, especially their 2 year 'special' which is now 4.65%, down -34 bps. Resimac also cut rates across the board. Of special note is their new floating rate of 5.59% and substantially below any bank. NZ Home Loans cut their 3 and 4 year fixed rates. And Housing NZ Corp cut its fixed rate offers and their floating rate by -25 bps, which is now 6.24%.

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

THE END IS NIGH
Moody's says that the ongoing decline in thermal coal prices is weakening the financial strength of Australia's thermal coal mining and mining services companies, at a time when miners are already struggling with low prices across major commodities. China's push for cleaner energy is adding to the problems of low demand worldwide, they say. If the Aussies can't hack it, Solid Energy won't be able to either, although Solid Energy's key coal resource is coking coals for steel making.

BNZ'S EARNINGS RISE
BNZ's parent, National Australia Bank, issued its third quarter trading update saying of its NZ subsidiary; "NZ banking local currency cash earnings rose over the quarter. Increased revenue, driven by higher margins and steady volume growth, was partly offset by higher expenses." NAB's unaudited quarterly cash earnings rose 9% to A$1.75 billion.

NZ SUPER FUND WINS EARLY SKIRMISH IN PORTUGUESE CASE
The NZ Super Fund has won an initial skirmish in its attempt to recover a US$150 million loan lost when Portugal's Banco Espirito Santo failed last year and the Portuguese central bank transferred the loan into the "bad bank" from the "good bank" set up to continue operating. The British commercial court has confirmed  the debt recovery case against Novo Banco can be heard in the English courts. The judgment is here. NZ Super Fund CEO Adrian Orr talked about the case in our Friday Double Shot interview here.

GAMIFICATION COMES TO AML
Co-op Money NZ, which represents credit unions and building societies, has created an 'anti-money laundering' and 'countering financing of terrorism' refresher course - in the form of a game - for its member organisations. Co-op Money NZ CEO Henry Lynch says the plan is for staff to have fun while meeting their continuous learning requirements.

WHOLESALE RATES FLATTER
Swap rates fell marginally today with a flattening bias. They are unchanged for one and two year terms, down -1 bp for three years, down-2 bps for four and five years. For seven years they are down -3 bps and for ten years down -4 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is down just -1 bp and has now hit just 3.00%. That is only one more -25 bps OCR cut priced in.

NZ DOLLAR HOLDS
The NZ dollar is currently at 66.1 USc, at 89.4 AUc, and at 60.3 euro cents. The TWI is at 71. Check our real-time charts here.

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