Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has found a new way to plug the country's budget hole: targeting multinationals.

Share trading platform Unlisted is applying for an exemption from the Financial Markets Authority.

It's a tough time to be an investment banker in Southeast Asia. Mergers involving Southeast Asian companies have dropped 45 per cent this year to the lowest level since 2009.

Increased dairy farm foreclosures look likely if product prices remain weak, the Reserve Bank says in its latest financial stability report.

The Reserve Bank has singled out the New Zealand dairy sector as an "area of risk" for the financial system.

REINZ figures show the national median house price fell 4.2 per cent in April, but rose 18pc in Auckland.

A newly licensed online lending service is targeting prospective homeowners who have been shut out of the mainstream mortgage market by low-equity loan restrictions.

Expectations of rising house prices remain close to historic highs in ASB's quarterly survey of housing market sentiment.

A second banking chief has denied Auckland has a housing bubble, saying many factors were combining to drive prices up including the city's sheer desirability.

Fonterra will late this month release its milk price forecast for 2015/16 and indications are that it will be towards the lower end of market expectations.

Saskatchewan, Canada's biggest agricultural province, imposed a temporary ban last month on certain investors acquiring farmland, reports Bloomberg.

One-third of Capital + Merchant Finance's $18.5 million settlement fund is ring-fenced for claims from the failed firm's trustee and a global investment giant.

Vector chief executive Simon Mackenzie believes Tesla's new batteries will help transform the energy sector.

An official cash rate of 3.5 per cent, which would have been base camp in previous cycles, is now being seen as the highest it will climb this time.

The dollar may decline this week as economists bet the Reserve Bank will start cutting interest rates as early as next month.

Macquarie chief executive Nicholas Moore took home more than A$45,000 ($47,618) a day last year as the investment group posted its best profit result since the global financial crisis.

Warehouse Group has posted a 5 per cent gain in third quarter sales to $635m which it said was in line with expectations.

Christopher Adams on Arria and Brian Henry's bright outlook, the Milford Asset Management FMA investigation and more.

Z Energy says work has slowed on its $20 million biodiesel plant but it will be finished in the next nine months.

Shares of Heartland New Zealand rose after coming out of a trading halt as Quadrant Private Equity sells its 9 per cent stake in the bank.

Briscoe Group's sales across its homeware and sporting goods retail chains rose 4.3 per cent to $119.8 million in the first quarter.

New Zealand dollar parity with the Australian currency became less likely yesterday after the cross rate, contrary to expectations, fell in the wake of the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to cut its official cash rate for second time this year.

The trial of former New Zealand Wine Company chief executive Peter Scutts over allegations of kickbacks continues today in the High Court at Auckland.