New Zealand's currency woes are shared by many other economies in the AsiaPacific region and will be likely be major area of discussion at this weeks' Apec summit in Japan, says Prime Minister John Key.

Men aged 18-33 and 49-64 and those in the North Island in particular, are showing signs of potential financial stress, a credit rating agency says.

NZ's 'tepid' recovery from the financial crisis is at risk of being derailed by the relative strength of the NZ dollar, Alan Bollard has warned.

Prime Minister John Key says NZ and its central bank are effectively powerless when it comes to checking the strength of the kiwi dollar.

The New Zealand dollar will try to break above 80 US cents this week after the Federal Reserve said it will start printing US$600 billion.

World share markets have risen after the Federal Reserve's $600b plan to stimulate the US economy was well received.

ASB is dropping the CBA name as it seeks to double its market share in the institutional and corporate banking sector.

A man's first thought was 'to board a flight to Beijing' when he discovered a Westpac bank teller had mistakenly doubled his life savings.