Economists believe GDP stats due out this week will show the NZ economy has expanded less that the Reserve Bank forecasted, confirming that interest rates are on hold for now.

ASB did a beautiful job this week of announcing fee increases for its KiwiSaver funds.

Kiwibank accounted for 40 per cent of new residential mortgages written by the major banks in the June quarter.

The Christchurch earthquake means the Reserve Bank is now unlikely to raise the Official Cash Rate (OCR) again until next year, ASB economists say.

APN News & Media, publisher of nzherald.co.nz, is today launching a nation-wide appeal for Christchurch earthquake victims.

New Zealand Football announced a multi-million dollar five-year partnership with ASB today.

ASB has announced it will be the first major NZ bank to offer asset rich but cash poor customers reverse equity mortgages.

Profits have dipped at ASB Bank, but loan impairment charges have halved.

Kiwibank has joined ANZ, Westpac and TSB today, moving to increase floating mortgage rates and cut longer term fixed rates.

The first of the big banks has hiked its floating mortgage rate after the Reserve lifted the Official Cash Rate by 0.25 per cent last week.

ASB's decision to close a number of its retail funds caused a bit of a kerfuffle recently but it shouldn't have been a surprise.

Research house Morningstar gets an extra star for its performance-enhanced KiwiSaver survey.