The Data: Coverage, Periodicity, and Timeliness

Coverage characteristics

Data are interest rates. These are as at the last business day of the month and are released on the website on or around four working days following the reference period. The survey consists primarily of major retail banks.

Data series published, (the longest running series beginning 1964) include weighted interest rates for:

Floating first mortgage new customer housing rate

Call deposit rate (discontinued as of June 2009)

Six-month deposit rate

SME overdraft rate

Business lending rate

The business lending rate is not surveyed directly from registered banks, but instead calculated using other data sources. See the series description for more details. As the source data for the business lending rate is not available with the immediacy of the survey data used for other interest rates in table B3, the business lending rate is published with a one month lag. Coverage is also wider as it includes all registered banks.

Periodicity

Monthly

Timeliness

On or around four working days after the end of the reference period.

Access by the public

Advance release calendar

The “Advance Release Calendar” is updated and released each Friday on the website. This is a long-term plan of scheduled releases.

Integrity

Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including confidentiality of individual responses

Data are collected under Section 36 of The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand publishes only aggregated data. Individual institutional data remains confidential.

Provision of information about revisions and advance notice of major changes in methodology

Provisional data are italicised. Data are deemed provisional when a series is under review. New data, or revised data, are in bold font. Revisions are generally published when the table is next due to be updated and released. Should revisions need to be made more promptly, a note is posted on the Internet website under “Revisions to Tables”. Any major changes in methodology are posted on the website as a note.

Quality

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics

A list of respondents completing this survey is available below.

Dissemination of statistics that support statistical cross-check and provide assurance of reasonableness

Most financial institutions either publicly display rates or make rates available upon request. National press regularly publish tables containing selected interest rates.