Loan level data collection
We are working with banks to improve the quality, detail and richness of the data we collect about lending in New Zealand.
Improving our data collection
We are implementing a loan level data (LLD) collection as part of our data and information strategy.
LLD will establish a highly detailed data collection of lending by New Zealand registered banks which will improve our analytical capability for evidence-based decision making.
What is loan level data?
LLD is information collected by banks for the purpose of authorising, issuing and managing loans to customers.
Banks will share a selection of this information with us. We will not collect information that will directly identify individuals, such as names or account numbers.
Examples of data in the collection includes:
Why are we doing this?
High-quality data is critical to inform our policy decisions, identify risks, and take action as needed.
We collect and manage data from regulated entities, including banks and other financial institutions, as part of our official functions and to maintain oversight of the financial sector. Our current data collections use a wide range of high-level aggregated financial information, including lending data from banks.
See our current data collections
Aggregated data does not support in-depth targeted conversations with banks and focused policy intervention for financial stability and monetary policy purposes. Recent global and domestic disruptions such as COVID-19, trade disruptions and extreme weather events, have triggered the need for a more granular loan data collection to strengthen our decision-making.
The LLD collection supports the Reserve Bank’s role as kaitiaki (guardian) of the financial system. It unlocks opportunities for more insights and enables data-driven decision making so we can proactively and quickly respond to future events. For example, LLD will allow us to understand how monetary policy decisions affect loan pricing across sectors of the economy, and how likely the financial system will be impacted by climate risks.
The LLD collection will create a high-quality lending dataset for New Zealand's financial system that enables us to act with speed in response to future data needs. It also aligns our data collections with international best practice and aims to remove some of the regulatory burden on reporting entities.
Collecting loan level data will:
- Improve the quality, efficiency, and usefulness of banking sector data. We have found that aggregated data does not give visibility of the information that lies underneath that would enable further analysis and re-use of the data.
- Enable us to respond to issues that affect individual regulated entities and the financial system in an efficient and timely manner. This includes the impact of economic, pandemic, and natural shocks; and climatic events.
- Allow a deeper understanding of monetary policy and financial stability risks and underlying causes. This will improve our policy decisions and provide a greater understanding of the financial sector for us and for those who use the analysis and statistics we produce.
Data privacy is protected
We take our role of kaitiaki (guardian) for financial system data seriously and have implemented best practice controls to protect the personal information of bank customers in the LLD collection.
Personal information is information about an identifiable individual (New Zealand Privacy Act 2020).
RBNZ has not collected any information from the banks which could directly identify an individual such as customer name, bank account number, address, email, phone number or IRD number.
RBNZ requires banks to provide a pseudo identifier for all customers with loans so that we can compare loan activity for that customer throughout different time periods. This identifier will only be used for LLD submissions to RBNZ. The customer identifier must be different from any identifier already used by the bank e.g. existing customer number or bank account number cannot be used.
When will the LLD collection be operational?
The first monthly data submission is due from banks in October 2026 for the September 2026 reporting period.
Over the past two years, the LLD project has completed two successful proofs of concept to inform the design and implementation of a granular loan collection. This involved considerable collaboration with banks to design the solution, and with our RBNZ teams to prove the value of the collection.
The LLD project has now moved to implementation phase, and we will continue to work with banks to ensure they are able to meet the data requirements for the new collection.
Please check back regularly or email us at [email protected] with any questions.