The New Zealand government says it will introduce a scheme to guarantee all retail deposits of participating New Zealand-registered banks, as well as retail deposits by locals in participating non-bank deposit-taking entities.
The scheme isn't compulsory and is being introduced to protect ordinary New Zealanders from losing their savings as a result of the current uncertain international financial market conditions.
It will be free for institutions with total retail deposits under $5 billion. But, a fee of ten basis points per annum will be charged on total deposits above $5 billion.
