New smartbanking hub trial begins in Martinborough.
A “glorified ATM machine” is not going to cut it as a provincial mayor rallies leaders to make rural bank branches mandatory. South Wairarapa Mayor Alex Beijen wanted social responsibility to provide banking facilities in rural areas to be part of the Reserve Bank’s licence to operate. He is rallying mayors across New Zealand to sign onto a petition to the Prime Minister to intervene. “Over the past 10 years, we in the South Wairarapa have experienced a full withdrawal of banking branches from our district. An area of nearly 3000 sq/km without a single banking employee.”
Homes used to cost a lot less, but in previous decades home loan interest rates were much higher.
Record low interest rates are great for homeowners – but not so good for anyone hoping to earn interest on money in the bank. Over recent years, anyone with money in a savings account or term deposit has seen their returns drop to virtually nothing. Term deposits are now paying up to 1 per cent a year for terms of five years, compared to a 10-year average of 4.39 per cent. Virtually all the return would be swallowed by inflation. Short-term deposits of 90 days are paying just 0.35 per cent compared to a 10-year average of 2.9 per cent.
What will banking look like in 2021?
31 Dec, 2020 04:00 PM
6 minutes to read
Major banks will all stop accepting cheques in 2021 while branch closures and a decline in the number of ATMs are set to continue. Roger Beaumont, chief executive of the New Zealand Bankers Association, says the outbreak of Covid-19 has sped up trends in the banking industry that were already happening.
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Its industry-wide research shows there was a 15 per cent reduction in branch transactions involving cash in 2020 and a 30 per cent drop in those involving cheques. Cheques are in rapid freefall in terms of their usage and I think you have got to bear in mind Covid last year accelerated a lot of these trends that we are seeing whether it is in branch transactions, use of cheques or on the flip side the increase in online engagement and activity and online banking and mobile banking.