Figure 3 Offshore funding costs and market uncertainty  500  bps  Index 100  Offshore funding spread VIX (RHS)  400  80  300  60  200  40  100  20  0 2006  0 2008  2010  2012  2014  2016  2018  Source: Bloomberg.
Note: The offshore funding spread is the NZD cost of one of the largest four banks issuing a 5-year bond in the US relative to the 5-year NZ swap rate. The VIX index is an indicator of the market’s expectation of the 30-day volatility in the S&P 500 equity index.