Banking system oversight
The Reserve Bank registers and supervises banks in New Zealand for the purposes of promoting the maintenance of a sound and efficient financial system, and avoiding significant damage to the financial system that could result from the failure of a registered bank.
While the Reserve Bank monitors registered banks’ compliance with banking supervision policies, neither it nor the Government guarantees that a registered bank will not get into difficulty or fail.
Part 4 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 (see Our legislation) places restrictions on the use of the words “bank”, “banker”, “banking” and their derivatives. Those restrictions do not apply to banks registered under Part 5 of the Act which establishes the Reserve Bank’s bank registration and supervision functions and sets out its related powers and the purposes for which those powers must be exercised.
Recent changes to banking supervision policy
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Registration and Supervision of Banks) Regulations 2008 come into effect on 30 October 2008. These regulations set out additional matters that the Reserve Bank will consider, under section 78(1) of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989, in determining whether a registered bank has carried on its business in a prudent manner or an applicant for bank registration will be able to carry on its proposed business in a prudent manner. The additional matters are the policies, systems, and procedures, or proposed policies, systems and procedures, to detect and deter money laundering and terrorist financing.
For more detailed information please see the Cabinet Paper and the Regulatory Impact Statement.
The Banking Supervision Handbook
The Banking Supervision Handbook contains the policy documents and Orders in Council setting out the details of our banking supervision framework pursuant to Part 5 of the Act.
Consultation on Liquidity Policy for Registered Banks
The Reserve Bank has been reviewing its prudential liquidity rules for banks, as indicated in the last two Financial Stability Reports. As part of the review we are now consulting on a draft Liquidity Policy. The consultation paper (PDF 136KB) is available for download.
Basel II
Information on the implementation of the Basel II capital adequacy framework in New Zealand is available here.
Bank registration information
The purpose of this bank registration information document (PDF 139KB) is to provide information and guidance to potential applicants for bank registration. It covers the policies and processes the Reserve Bank applies to bank registration, and the relevant laws and regulations.
Other banking supervision topics
- Review of Trans-Tasman regulation
- Review of financial products and providers including non-bank deposit-takers
- Relationships with other domestic and international banking and financial system regulators
- Use of the words “bank”, “banker”, “banking” and their derivatives
- Banking supervision articles, speeches, and other general information
- Banking supervision seminars and workshops
Related areas
For information on banks currently registered in New Zealand, including their credit ratings and links to their websites, see the New Zealand banks section of our website.
You will find information extracted from the Key Information Summaries disclosed by registered banks in our Banking system statistics section
The Financial Stability Report contains general information on current issues and recent developments the New Zealand banking system. Before 2004 these matters were reported on in each June issue of the Reserve Bank Bulletin.
Information about what the Bank would do in a crisis situation, can be found in our Crisis Management area.
If you have not found the information you seek, please try our Banking system frequently asked questions (FAQs)
