Figure 4: Breakdown of lending by financial institutions (2005)  Source: RBNZ for NZ and Australian credit figures (which include securitisation), National Central Banks  In summary, the banking sector dominates the New Zealand financial system, with this sector highly country concentrated in its ownership, strongly reliant on (largely short-term) foreign funding, and focussed primarily on lending to the household sector for housing mortgages.
Compared to other countries, New Zealand’s capital markets are relatively small. While the amount of New Zealand dollar corporate bonds (or securities) outstanding relative to the size of the economy is similar to that of Australia, very few of these are actually issued by local businesses.