A lawsuit claiming the ANZ Bank charged "excessive" penalty fees is to be filed in the High Court at Auckland today.

Australian shares have posted their largest one-day loss in two months as nervous investors looked to steep falls on Asian markets over fears of a credit crunch in China.

MediaWorks NZ, the broadcaster whose lenders look likely to seize control, narrowed its annual loss in 2012 after massive writedowns a year earlier.

The beginning of the end may have begun for record-low mortgage rates in New Zealand.

The FMA is preparing to take action against two unnamed KiwiSaver issuers for making misleading statements in their offer documents.

Mighty River Power shares slumped to a new low of $2.23 this morning as the local stock exchange followed world markets down, reaching its lowest point in a month.

Wall Street has declined after Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank may begin tapering its US$85 billion-a-month bond-buying program later this year.

2 degrees has negotiated a $165 million credit facility from the Bank of New Zealand and is immediately handing over $120 million to clear a debt owed.

The Reserve Bank has announced it will lift the ratio of deposits to loans in order to take the heat out of the housing market, writes Gareth Morgan.

ANZ head of retail banking Kerri Thompson says she is confident the bank will "come out in the clear" in a legal case claiming it has charged excessive penalty fees to customers.

For Ivor de Menefy it's not about the money, it's a matter of principle.

The New Zealand Bankers' Association expects a legal case claiming the ANZ charged its customers unfair penalty fees will be vigorously defended.

The first bank to be taken to court in a law suit targeting "unfair" default fees is to be named today.

The Prime Minister John Key believes first-home buyers should be exempt from proposed restrictions to low-deposit home lending.

Taxpayers may wind up covering for MediaWorks again with a restructuring deal that could free them from a potential $22 million obligation to the IRD.

New Zealand television audiences should not be worried about losing popular shows like X Factor and The GC, say the receivers of MediaWorks.

As TV3 and MediaWorks heads into another period of upheaval the question is why its bankers used receivership to restructure the firm.

New Zealand's dairy sector debt nearly tripled over the past decade to $30.5 billion last year and some farmers will have difficulty servicing their loans in the year ahead.

Market players are expecting Wynyard Group to be priced towards the lower end of its $1.10 to $1.65 range in its book build tomorrow.

The Reserve Bank has kept its official cash rate unchanged at 2.5 per cent at today's monetary policy statement.

The aim of balancing the books to reduce government debt ignores a fundamental lesson from the GFC, writes Peter Lyons.

New Zealand's credit unions have had an early Christmas present after the Government changed the law clearing the way for all financial advisers to provide advice.