9 Nov 2010

RBNZ to remove emergency loan facility for banks

2:04 pm on 9 November 2010

The last of the emergency lending facilities made available to local banks during the financial crisis is to be removed.

The facility was introduced by the Reserve Bank during the financial crisis as funding for local banks on world money markets dried up.

It offered the banks loans each Tuesday in exchange for a wide range of collateral.

But the central bank says the facility has been rarely used since the crisis abated and money markets returned to normal. It will be wound down at the end of November.

The bank says it will also review other measures put in place during the financial crisis to support local trading banks.

Those measures include reviewing the collateral banks can put up for loans offered by the Reserve Bank on a less frequent basis.