A lawyer taking action against the big banks over penalty fees says he will now try to stretch the claims back decades rather than work with the six-year statutory limit.

Major banks are "stress-testing" mortgage borrowers to ensure they will be able to meet repayments when higher interest rates hit.

When it releases its monetary policy statement on Thursday the Reserve Bank is expected to turn up the volume on its warning that it is preparing to remove the support of ultra-low interest rates in place since the recession.

The boss of ANZ - the country's largest bank - received a pay rise of almost 14 per cent for the 2013 financial year, pushing his remuneration package over $4 million.

The big four Australian banks made more than A$27 billion (NZT $31b) in profits in the past year, making Australasia's banking sector one of the world's most successful.

The High Court has given ANZ/ National Bank customers until December 13 to sign up to a lawsuit against the bank over fees, according to a group taking the case.

A court ruling means thousands more people could sign up to a lawsuit against the ANZ bank over fees.

One of the country's leading banks is about to start charging interest on each transaction if customers default on their payments.

In Shanghai's leafy Xintiandi there's a sight most Antipodean visitors would find very familiar.

ANZ is weighing up whether to launch action in Korea to try to get $8 million from property investor Danny Chung and his wife.

ANZ Bank has defended its penalty fees as fair, saying they reflect extra services provided to customers whose accounts require attention over and above their banking contract.

Low-deposit mortgages will not only be harder to get from the end of this month, but they will be a lot more expensive.

I am unhappy with the fees I am being charged by my bank. Every month I am charged at least $100.

The number of people who unwittingly launder money for international scammers has doubled in three months, and police deal with new "money mule" reports every day.

A series of glitches affecting ANZ customers and merchants this year does not stem from the bank's technology merger with the National Bank, ANZ says.

More than one in three people signed up to KiwiSaver don't know how much money they have in their retirement savings account.

ANZ was tonight still trying to fix a glitch with its eftpos terminals which saw some cards stop working and some customers charged twice for the same transaction.