ABSTRACT
There are five commercial or trading banks, twelve trustees savings banks, the Post Office Savings Bank, and savings banks operated by the commercial banks in the New Zealand banking system. Of the five commercial or trading banks, the Bank of New Zealand (wholly state-owned) and the National Bank of New Zealand are incorporated by special New Zealand legislation (though the latter bank is domiciled in England), while the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, the Bank of New South Wales and the Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd are primarily Australian institutions. Approximately 40 per cent of the liquid assets of the New Zealand financial system are held by the trading banks. (Although term lending has been a growth area recently, trading banks primarily provide short-term finance.)
