Westpac has announced some rate changes to both term deposits, and one for a key mortgage rate.
All the changes are reductions. None result in market-leading rate settings for customers.
Their one month term deposit rate has been reduced by -25 bps to 0.75%.
Their six and eight month rate has been reduced by -5 bps to 3.25%.
And their two year rate has been reduced by -10 bps to 3.65%.
These are rate offers for interest-at-maturity, interest quarterly, or interest compounding at the customer's option
But the Westpac SuperGold option pays interest monthly and the same rate levels for those terms.
In addition Westpac has changed its one year fixed mortgage 'special' offer to 4.45% which is a reduction of -15 bps. Even though that too is not market-leading, this new rate aligns Westpac with almost all other bank rivals.
These changes come in the middle of substantial market turmoil in benchmark rates. But as the markets opened in New Zealand today, none of that angst is being reflected in New Zealand swap rates. It is business-as-normal here today with the whole rate curve looking very much like it did on Friday last week.
The mild trend lower is still in place, especially at the short end that affects these retail interest rates.
For higher rates, you need to assess the offers of institutions with a lower credit rating. Rate offers rise significantly from non-bank institutions with sub-investment grade ("junk") credit ratings.
Using our deposit calculator to figure exactly how much benefit each option is worth you can assess the value of more or less frequent interest payment terms, and the PIE products, comparing two situations side by side.
All carded, or advertised, term deposit rates for all financial institutions for terms of less than one year are here, and for terms of one-to-five years are here.
The latest headline rate offers are in this table. Most of today's Westpac changes are to rates that don't affect those revealed in this table.
| for a $25,000 deposit | Rating | 3/4 mths | 5/6/7 mths | 8/9 mths | 1 yr | 18 mths | 2 yrs | 3 yrs |
| Main banks | ||||||||
 |
AA- | 3.00 | 3.30 | 3.40 | 3.40 | 3.50 | 3.65 | 3.80 |
 |
AA- | 3.00 | 3.35 | 3.40 | 3.45 | 3.60 | 3.80 | 3.90 |
 |
AA- | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.30 | 3.50 | 3.60 | 3.70 | 3.90 |
| Kiwibank | A | 3.00 | 3.30 | 3.35 | 3.45 | 3.70 | 3.85 | |
 |
AA- | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.35 | 3.40 | 3.50 | 3.65
 |
3.80 |
| Other banks | ||||||||
 |
BBB | 2.95 | 3.30 | 3.40 | 3.50 | 3.65 | 3.80 | 4.00 |
 |
BBB | 3.10 | 3.45 | 3.60 | 3.60 | 3.70 | 3.80 | 3.85 |
| HSBC Premier | AA- | 2.50 | 2.80 | 2.80 | 2.90 | 2.90 | 3.00 | |
| ICBC | A | 2.95 | 3.25 | 3.55 | 3.35 | 3.75 | 3.85 | 3.95 |
 |
A | 2.80 | 3.30 | 3.30 | 3.45 | 3.65 | 3.80 | 3.90 |
 |
BBB | 3.30 | 3.30 | 3.50 | 3.70 | 3.65 | 3.85 | 4.00 |
 |
A- | 3.00 | 3.30 | 3.35 | 3.40 | 3.65 | 3.85 | 4.05 |
| Selected fincos | ||||||||
 |
B* | 5.18 | 5.25 | 5.60 | 5.70 | |||
| Liberty Finance | BBB- | 3.60 | 3.95 | 4.25 | 4.30 | 4.35 | 4.40 | 4.45 |
| UDC | BBB | 2.95 | 3.45 | 3.75 | 3.80 | 3.75 | 3.85 | 3.85 |
| * = these credit ratings in this review that are not investment grade. | ||||||||
Rates in this table are the highest offered by each institution for the terms listed. You however will need to check how often interest is credited or paid. That important factor is not filtered in the above table and rates with various interest payment/credit arrangements are mixed here. However, our full tables do disclose the offer basis.
Our unique term deposit calculator can help quantify what each offer will net you.
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