Homegrown lender Kiwibank could face an increase in its wholesale funding costs after being hit by a credit rating downgrade from Standard and Poor's.

How would you feel if someone muscled in front of you in the queue at the bank? How would you feel if the manager actually encouraged queue-jumping? Bernard Hickey looks at bank assets.

The four Australian-owned banks earn more out of NZ than banks in most other countries, but that's the price of a sound financial system, says Alan Bollard.