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New research found that 37 percent of South Asian respondents use traditional banks for remittances. Photo: RNZ / 123rf The Commerce Commission has reaffirmed banking rules need to be eased, Kiwibank beefed up and open banking promoted to bring greater competition into personal banking services. The commission on Tuesday released its eagerly awaited final report into competition in the retail banking sector. Commission head John Small said stimulating competition in personal banking services requires a "multi-faceted approach to ensure that it's baked in." Small said open banking could be a game-changer, giving thousands of underserved Kiwis access to financial services and revolutionising consumer choice. The recommendations are little changed from the draft report in March and steer c...

Manapouri Power Station. Of the six big energy companies, Contact, Mercury and Meridian have usually had the largest margins. Photo: 123rf New data from the Electricity Authority shows the millions of dollars that electricity gentailers are making from what some commentators say is a broken market. The new dashboard indicates that the big six energy companies have consistently made more than $70 million in margins across the weeks for which data is displayed. The week before Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones accused the companies of "profiteering" as wholesale prices soared, they had a margin of $119m. Contact, Mercury and Meridian have usually had the largest margins. The authority said this would not include costs like staffing, maintenance, debt servicing and levies. Sarah Gillie...

Some retailers are not seeking to take on new customers due to adverse market conditions. Photo: 123RF High wholesale power prices are already reducing the deals that households can get on their electricity, a price comparison website says. Powerswitch said it had been advised both Comtricity and Raw Energy had stopped trading. In addition, it had been asked to remove offers from Octopus, Nova, Electric Kiwi and Flick Electric from the site. Independent retailers had been under pressure in recent months as wholesale power prices soared. In July, Electric Kiwi said it had to close to new customers because it could not afford to take them on. On 20 August last year, wholesale prices were as low as $77.53/MWh - on Monday they were more than $300. "These retailers' offers are temporarily no...

Photo: 123rf The number of job ads has ticked up for the first time in a year. The Seek Employment report for July indicates the number of ads increased 3 percent from June, but were still down 29 percent year-on-year. Applications per job ad were little changed from June's reading. Read more: Seek country manager Rob Clark said what had not changed was fierce competition among candidates - that showed "no sign of abating". "While it is pleasing to see an increase in job ad volumes, this comes after five months of consecutive declines, including an 8 percent fall in June," he said. Retail and consumer ads rose 24 percent, followed by hospitality and tourism up 20 percent, with government and defence up 22 percent. Consulting and strategy was the only sector to record a monthly fall in j...

Limited traffic on Auckland Harbour Bridge Photo: NZTA / Twitter Millions of dollars are blowing in the wind - that is the cost of weather-related restrictions on Auckland's Harbour Bridge, according to an economist. Gusty conditions on Monday meant the bridge was reduced to two lanes in each direction, and speed restrictions were in force. Speed limits kick in when winds hit 90 kilometres an hour; when gusts reached 110kmh, the bridge could close all together. In that situation, traffic has to take the long way around on the Western Ring Road via State Highway 16 and SH18. Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen told Checkpoint the bridge closures were a significant cost to people. Read more: "We estimated ... based on the amount of time the bridge has been closed over the last co...