RaboPlus rivals declare war
A term deposit war has broken out among the big banks in parallel with fierce skirmishes in the mortgage market.
Investors in one-year term deposits were being offered rates from the main banks that were between 0.5 and 1.55 percentage points higher than a month ago, said David Chaston of interest rate comparison website www.interest.co.nz.
The moves, which also include some attractive five month rates from National Bank (7.4%), Kiwibank (7.3%) and ANZ (7.25%), are in response to Rabobank aggression. RaboPlus, an offshoot of Standard and Poor's AAA-rated predominantly rural Rabobank, which this year launched online investing for urbanites, is offering a one year term deposit rate of 7.6% and a six month rate of 7.55%**. It can do so because it is a purely online venture, which means it does not have to pay for expensive staff and branches.
But, said Chaston, the RaboPlus Online account, which offers a rate of 7.35% and gives users instant access to their money instead of locking it away, has sucked money out of term deposits and forced the main banks to respond.
Among the main banks, Westpac is the most aggressive, offering a six month rate of 7.35% and a one year rate of 7.55%. It was a big turn-around for the bank, which was the least competitive on one year rates on September 1, said Chaston.
Rates War
| Bank | One year rate on 1 Sept | One year rate now* |
| ANZ | 7% | 7.25% |
| ASB | 7% | 7.5% |
| BNZ | 6.6% | 7.1% |
| Kiwibank | 7% | 7.55% |
| National Bank | 7% | 7.5% |
| RaboPlus | 7.5% | 7.6% |
| Westpac | 6% | 7.55% |
| | * As at Thursday 12 October |
**Correction: the RaboPlus 6 month rate was 7.55% at the date of print and not 7.35% as stated in the article.
Sunday Star Times | 15/10/2006