ASB New Zealand’s strongest bank, by a whisker

ASB New Zealand’s strongest bank, by a whisker

By Pattrick Smellie
May 27 (BusinessDesk) – The international credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Services says New Zealand’s financially strongest bank is the ASB.
The ANZ/National Bank has heavy rural sector exposure, Westpac’s New Zealand operation is over-exposed to commercial property, and Bank of New Zealand has lent to too many of the same people, Moody’s says in a credit rating downgrade announcement made today.
All four of New Zealand’s major trading banks dropped from Aa2 credit ratings to Aa3, mirroring a similar drop from Aa1 to Aa2 dished out to the banks’ Australian parents.....

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