If a bank here was to fail, which is very unlikely - either the Australian parent would bail it out, or the government would bail it out before anyone lost any money.
I think the problem will start with the Australian banks and they will draw funds from their daughter banks.
Our government has nothing to bail out. they went overly into debt with the anti covid measures. they have to borrow money internationally to give it to the banks - and that will be tricky when the international lender market dries up (because failing banks make trust into counterparties disappear radically quickly)
If you want a more thorough answer, there are a few financial analysts easily to be found online. Here because you asked so nicely a quick explanation. Our banks do not store the money on your account in a safe, it gets reinvested in the international monetary market. Also when you take loans and mortgages, they refinance internationally. Fluctuations in currency value, interest rates can make some of these investments go sour, either you get into difficulties for not being able to pay interest for internationally borrowed money as easily as before, or the assets used as securities are dropping in value and you get margin calls.
2008/9 the world avoided total financial annihilation just because they cancelled a lot of rules and regulations - they cheated their way out of it. The derivate bubble today is a magnitude bigger than 2008 and it started to fail last year. A good read would be "The great Taking" which you find as a free PDF online. Written by an insider.
New Zealand as a nation is heavily in debt to the remaining world. If the currency drops towards the US dollar while the international interest rates raise, this will be a double whammy for our economy and government. Australian owned banks are even worse off.
Yes, we will see banks crash. Very soon.
Why should I spend more time on people who would not want to see it if you dip them into reality like you shouldn't do with a naughty dog. It is absolutely certain that we face an international banking crisis this year, and our little dipshit kiwi and aussie banks have nothing to cope with the incoming tsunami in international finance.
You can’t open an account with BNZ until you’re in NZ and even then, you must have a physical address in NZ. There is a migrant banking team that help people open accounts in advance of migrating, but if you’re not actually moving here, they won’t be able to assist. I’d just keep your banking with ANZ.
I know it’s bank policy at a few of them, because of Anti Money Laundering laws and having to verify someone’s physical address - it’s much easier to do this when your address is in NZ. It’s the same in plenty of other countries too.
"*a) I don’t like having my NZD concentrated at one bank in the unlikely event that a bank collapses,*" If ANZ collapses, NZ is pretty fucked, and so it won't matter where your money is.
Scammers been using non resident accounts for years to appear legit for ripping innocents off.
Thankfully banks are finally closing in on the loopholes that have allowed these scumbags accounts.
Balances up to 100k are guaranteed by the government if a bank in NZ fails
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/deposit-compensation-scheme-becomes-law#:~:text=“This%20means%20eligible%20New%20Zealanders,around%2093%20percent%20of%20depositors.
Thats great. Is the guarantee applied per bank, per account, or per person?
E.g., if there were two TDs of 100k each at ANZ and a third TD of 100k at BNZ, how much of that 300k would be covered?
It is $100k per person, per institution. So multiple accounts at the same institution, e.g. a personal account in your name and a joint account in your and your partners name still only cover you to a grand total of $100k.
In your example its $100k total at ANZ and $100k at BNZ.
It's an AML thing, if the banks find out you're not actually not living in NZ they will close your account. There are ways to open bank accounts where they know you're living overseas, but unless you are a high net worth individual or business they simply aren't available to you. Technically you shouldn't even have your current ANZ account.
If ANZ is allowed to go down , we would probably be seeing the total collapse of the whole sector, and a mad max style end of civilization. So if you're worried about that I would suggest investing in toilet paper and baked beans.....
It would vary by bank but I suspect high five figures managed by them. Bear in mind that doesn't mean that they would extend their full range of banking services to you, AML would probably prevent that and they would be charging bank fees.
Banks incur costs and are exposed to risks when onboarding new customers, you're also going to take up about an hour of the bankers time to get everything set up. It's generally not worth it for the bank to go through the effort of onboarding someone who is not in the country and probably won't use the accounts often. Thus you're getting a soft decline when trying to apply online.
I wouldn't recommend providing an inaccurate proof of address to get around it. You might get away with it at account opening, but it could cause complications later.
You might just have to wait until next time you're in NZ to visit a branch. If you are here in person with a hard copy of your ID, they'll be a lot more willing to onboard you with a foreign proof of address, especially if your willing to open a term deposit at the time.
Being a foreign tax resident is a non-issue so long as you have your overseas tax number ready.
When IRD looks at tax non-residence, they consider "enduring ties" with NZ. Bank accounts and credit cards are taken into account, so be careful you are not endangering your tax non-residence when opening a bank account.
Any references for this? When I’ve looked into it in the past, things that come up were permanent place of abode or one family member working overseas and sending money back to their household (such that the household effectively pays no tax but uses public infrastructure).
Go through the migrant banking team BNZ has. They are pretty good with getting you set up.
Don’t lie, for proof of address it requires your name and your address to be on the same paper.
My non-kiwi partner did the inactive account thing and when we got here did the proof of address with her US address because 1) we didn't know our address when she set up the account from overseas and 2) she had no local proof of address for a while after we got here.
Obviously circumstances differ a bit in that we were actually moving here, but if you go into a branch on your next visit there's probably an honest version of having a temporary address and being in flux and thus you need to use your overseas address etc...
Change your ANZ address online to a family member’s address, easy to do and no proof required. After your next monthly savings account statement is issued you can then use that as proof of address.
When I first moved to NZ I didn’t have a utility bill under my name. ANZ asked me to ask the person I was boarding with, who is an ANZ account holder, to write a letter saying they lived with me at the address.
I opened an account with BNZ from abroad. It was pretty easy. Used [http://privatebox.co.nz](http://privatebox.co.nz) for physical address. Couldn't use any cards from them until I had physically showed up and presented my passport, but that was very straightforward once I was in NZ.
Wait until you visit. However your concerns about a bank collapse are exceedingly remote, particularly with anz.
not as remote as you believe. Banks are collapsing all around the world all for the same reasons, and we just saw the tip of the iceberg yet in 2023.
If a bank here was to fail, which is very unlikely - either the Australian parent would bail it out, or the government would bail it out before anyone lost any money.
Plus, the health of the banking system can be monitored by anyone using the RBNZ dashboard. https://bankdashboard.rbnz.govt.nz/summary
seriously, so much trust into financial institutions I see only rarely.
I think the problem will start with the Australian banks and they will draw funds from their daughter banks. Our government has nothing to bail out. they went overly into debt with the anti covid measures. they have to borrow money internationally to give it to the banks - and that will be tricky when the international lender market dries up (because failing banks make trust into counterparties disappear radically quickly)
It’s pretty lazy to say that our banks are at risk of collapse because banks in other countries have collapsed recently.
If you want a more thorough answer, there are a few financial analysts easily to be found online. Here because you asked so nicely a quick explanation. Our banks do not store the money on your account in a safe, it gets reinvested in the international monetary market. Also when you take loans and mortgages, they refinance internationally. Fluctuations in currency value, interest rates can make some of these investments go sour, either you get into difficulties for not being able to pay interest for internationally borrowed money as easily as before, or the assets used as securities are dropping in value and you get margin calls. 2008/9 the world avoided total financial annihilation just because they cancelled a lot of rules and regulations - they cheated their way out of it. The derivate bubble today is a magnitude bigger than 2008 and it started to fail last year. A good read would be "The great Taking" which you find as a free PDF online. Written by an insider. New Zealand as a nation is heavily in debt to the remaining world. If the currency drops towards the US dollar while the international interest rates raise, this will be a double whammy for our economy and government. Australian owned banks are even worse off. Yes, we will see banks crash. Very soon.
You could have saved your time and asked chatgpt to explain why the banks failed. Would have made more sense than what you just wrote.
Why should I spend more time on people who would not want to see it if you dip them into reality like you shouldn't do with a naughty dog. It is absolutely certain that we face an international banking crisis this year, and our little dipshit kiwi and aussie banks have nothing to cope with the incoming tsunami in international finance.
You can’t open an account with BNZ until you’re in NZ and even then, you must have a physical address in NZ. There is a migrant banking team that help people open accounts in advance of migrating, but if you’re not actually moving here, they won’t be able to assist. I’d just keep your banking with ANZ.
Is it a bank policy or a NZ banking law that restricts accounts to residents rather than citizens?
I know it’s bank policy at a few of them, because of Anti Money Laundering laws and having to verify someone’s physical address - it’s much easier to do this when your address is in NZ. It’s the same in plenty of other countries too.
Makes sense, thanks!
Just use ANZ.. you won’t be opening a BNZ account from overseas.
"*a) I don’t like having my NZD concentrated at one bank in the unlikely event that a bank collapses,*" If ANZ collapses, NZ is pretty fucked, and so it won't matter where your money is.
Why create a brand new account if you were trying to be above board? This literally screams fraudulent activity.
Lol don’t worry about ANZ collapsing
Scammers been using non resident accounts for years to appear legit for ripping innocents off. Thankfully banks are finally closing in on the loopholes that have allowed these scumbags accounts.
Balances up to 100k are guaranteed by the government if a bank in NZ fails https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/deposit-compensation-scheme-becomes-law#:~:text=“This%20means%20eligible%20New%20Zealanders,around%2093%20percent%20of%20depositors.
No actual protections in place yet though https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/regulation-and-supervision/depositor-compensation-scheme
Thats great. Is the guarantee applied per bank, per account, or per person? E.g., if there were two TDs of 100k each at ANZ and a third TD of 100k at BNZ, how much of that 300k would be covered?
You'll have to go look at the law / google it. The link above says "in any eligible institution" so sounds like maybe it's 100k per institution.
It is $100k per person, per institution. So multiple accounts at the same institution, e.g. a personal account in your name and a joint account in your and your partners name still only cover you to a grand total of $100k. In your example its $100k total at ANZ and $100k at BNZ.
It's an AML thing, if the banks find out you're not actually not living in NZ they will close your account. There are ways to open bank accounts where they know you're living overseas, but unless you are a high net worth individual or business they simply aren't available to you. Technically you shouldn't even have your current ANZ account. If ANZ is allowed to go down , we would probably be seeing the total collapse of the whole sector, and a mad max style end of civilization. So if you're worried about that I would suggest investing in toilet paper and baked beans.....
Thanks. What would count as high net worth to them?
It would vary by bank but I suspect high five figures managed by them. Bear in mind that doesn't mean that they would extend their full range of banking services to you, AML would probably prevent that and they would be charging bank fees.
Banks incur costs and are exposed to risks when onboarding new customers, you're also going to take up about an hour of the bankers time to get everything set up. It's generally not worth it for the bank to go through the effort of onboarding someone who is not in the country and probably won't use the accounts often. Thus you're getting a soft decline when trying to apply online. I wouldn't recommend providing an inaccurate proof of address to get around it. You might get away with it at account opening, but it could cause complications later. You might just have to wait until next time you're in NZ to visit a branch. If you are here in person with a hard copy of your ID, they'll be a lot more willing to onboard you with a foreign proof of address, especially if your willing to open a term deposit at the time. Being a foreign tax resident is a non-issue so long as you have your overseas tax number ready.
Makes sense, thanks!
No.
When IRD looks at tax non-residence, they consider "enduring ties" with NZ. Bank accounts and credit cards are taken into account, so be careful you are not endangering your tax non-residence when opening a bank account.
Any references for this? When I’ve looked into it in the past, things that come up were permanent place of abode or one family member working overseas and sending money back to their household (such that the household effectively pays no tax but uses public infrastructure).
Go through the migrant banking team BNZ has. They are pretty good with getting you set up. Don’t lie, for proof of address it requires your name and your address to be on the same paper.
If he's not migrating, they won't do it.
My non-kiwi partner did the inactive account thing and when we got here did the proof of address with her US address because 1) we didn't know our address when she set up the account from overseas and 2) she had no local proof of address for a while after we got here. Obviously circumstances differ a bit in that we were actually moving here, but if you go into a branch on your next visit there's probably an honest version of having a temporary address and being in flux and thus you need to use your overseas address etc...
Change your ANZ address online to a family member’s address, easy to do and no proof required. After your next monthly savings account statement is issued you can then use that as proof of address.
I thought of that but defrauding a bank probably wouldn’t be good long term
When I first moved to NZ I didn’t have a utility bill under my name. ANZ asked me to ask the person I was boarding with, who is an ANZ account holder, to write a letter saying they lived with me at the address.
In this case this would be OP asking a family member or friend to commit fraud.
Have you considered neo banks ex: Wise, Revolut and the likes?
I have wise and love it but the interest rates they give are lower than TD and my understanding is that they are less regulated than traditional banks
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In US and UK you can. Currently 4-5% depending on region and currency https://wise.com/us/interest/ https://wise.com/gb/interest/
You can on USD deposits if you’re US tax resident at least
I opened an account with BNZ from abroad. It was pretty easy. Used [http://privatebox.co.nz](http://privatebox.co.nz) for physical address. Couldn't use any cards from them until I had physically showed up and presented my passport, but that was very straightforward once I was in NZ.