A number of things have happened recently to raise interest in these issues. First, there has been the take-over by the ANZ of the National Bank of New Zealand, previously owned by the British bank, Lloyds TSB. This means that about 85 per cent of New Zealand’s banks, measured by total assets, are now Australian-owned.
Australia and New Zealand also now share the same “big four” banks. The ANZ owns the merged ANZ National in New Zealand; NAB owns the BNZ; the Commonwealth owns ASB; and Westpac in New Zealand trades as a branch operation.