15 Jan 2009

BNZ cuts fixed mortgage rates too

3:04 pm on 15 January 2009

The Bank of New Zealand has followed the other main trading banks and cut interest rates on its fixed mortgages.

BNZ has cut rates by between 0.2 and 0.9 of a percentage point on its standard mortgages for two, three, four, five and seven years, bringing them into line with its competitors' rates.

ANZ and the National Bank cut the rates on fixed mortgages yesterday; Westpac and ASB cut theirs last month.

Economists are predicting more cuts yet. The Reserve Bank is expected to make further large cuts to official interest rates from later this month, thus reducing the cost of money borrowed by banks on wholesale money markets.