New Zealand's big banks - hit this morning by a credit rating downgrade from Standard & Poor's - say the change shouldn't affect their funding costs.

Standard and Poor's has downgraded the credit ratings of the big four Australian banks and their New Zealand units by one notch, as part of its global review of bank ratings.

Standard & Poor's has cut the credit ratings of 15 of the world's biggest banks - mostly in Europe and the United States - in the first wave of actions under its new, tougher, ratings criteria.

Chorus, now officially demerged from Telecom, has just secured a $1.35b bank facility. Photo / Supplied

"Believe it or not there's a lot of money out there," an authorised financial adviser (AFA) told me in a carpark conversation last week...

Major political parties' lack of policies to redress our love affair with housing has bred frustration in economic circles.

NZ banks are wary of new rules that lay down how the Reserve Bank can freeze bank accounts.

Insurers are expecting claims worth some $30 billion and counting from the Canterbury earthquakes...