S&P gives three banks in New Zealand top marks

Three of New Zealand's four big Australian-owned banks have received glowing reports on their financial strength from ratings agency Standard & Poors.

It issued B+ ratings on ASB Bank, ANZ/National Bank and BNZ in New Zealand. The three were the only New Zealand banks S&P looked at.

The agency said it had assigned Bank Fundamental Strength Ratings (BFSRs) on 110 banks in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Not surprisingly, the strongest banks, denoted by having BFSRs of B+ assigned to them, are located in the more stable banking systems in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand," it said.

"BFSRs assigned to Australian and New Zealand entities were among the highest assigned throughout Asia-Pacific, which reflects favourably on the underlying strength of those entities," said S&P credit analyst Craig Bennett.

He said the agency chose to look at New Zealand banks that had at least 5 per cent of the local market and were standalone legal entities.

Westpac, which was not looked at, remains a branch operation of its Australian parent but is in the process of being locally incorporated to satisfy Reserve Bank requirements.

Bennett said the BFSRs were issued primarily for the information of investors in bank paper or debt securities.

- NZPA