50,000 Westpac customers facing home loan shock

50,000 Westpac customers facing home loan shock
CEO Catherine McGrath says her bank is proactive in dealing with rate shock. (Image: NZME)
Jenny Ruth
Westpac New Zealand has 50,000 customers rolling off fixed-rate mortgages with interest rates below 4% in the six months ending March next year.Chief executive Catherine McGrath said the bank uses a 2.5-percentage point margin over its lending rates to test whether a customer could still afford their loans if their interest rates went up that much.“That’s given us a buffer. For the vast majority of customers, that means they’re not rolling on to a rate that we haven’t tested them for,” McGrath told BusinessDesk.The...

More Finance

Officials MIA on banking competition, say critics
Finance

Officials MIA on banking competition, say critics

Over-regulation of the banking sector is blamed for stifling competition.

Pattrick Smellie 20 Feb 2025
Heartland declares $49.6m impairment in NZ business
Finance

Heartland declares $49.6m impairment in NZ business

Heartland Group shares fell 12% in early trading.

Gregor Thompson 18 Feb 2025
Big banks scrubbing public mentions of DEI
Finance

Big banks scrubbing public mentions of DEI

Citigroup and others seek to avoid possible litigation and federal probes.

Toy entrepreneur quashes spec of NZME takeover
Finance

Toy entrepreneur quashes spec of NZME takeover

Zuru founder Nick Mowbray says a report speculating he could take over private media company NZME is wrong. On Friday morning, The Australian’s Data Room said “some wealthy Kiwis” were plotting to do something about the state of New Zealand’s media industry and cited Mowbray as a...

Victoria Young 14 Feb 2025