While big banks in China and the US are reluctant to do business with ventures focused on virtual currency, the Netherlands is now home to banks that are open to bitcoin.

T-Mobile, Wal-Mart, Google and a host of other retail, tech and telecom companies are now operating like banks and they are piquing the interest of young people.

Goldman Sachs say buy Brazilian stocks because the country will win the World Cup, giving a boost to the local equity market. But investors need to move fast as the gains won't last.

Business confidence has declined for the third month in a row, ANZ's Business Outlook survey has found, though optimists still outnumber pessimists nearly 10 to one

Sharp slowdowns in the Auckland housing market or in China are the main risks the NZIER sees to a recovery which is accelerating and broadening.

Banks stepped in to save the economic system, writes Bob Jones. Had they not, the world would have descended into anarchy with mass unemployment.

The Reserve Bank is developing a stress testing framework for the nation's lenders to gauge their health in the event of a downturn.