Banks are going into battle for new customers with free tablet computers, contributions to house painting and cash handouts all up for grabs.

New Zealand's mostly Australian-owned banks are not as profitable as they appear, despite very strong earnings, the NZ Bankers Association says.

ANZ Bank sees no rush of customers to rivals with death of National brand.

Industry veterans rely on selling their expertise, not hardware or software.

Police got personal banking details of Kim Dotcom and his staff without getting a search warrant in a move that has implications for bank customers.

The results are in, for the competing funds' first five years. If yours is trailing the field, is it time to switch? Tamsyn Parker reports.

The ANZ could potentially lose 30 to 40 per cent of its National Bank customers by dropping the brand, a banking expert says.

Banks are dropping mortgage rates and offering cash sweeteners, loaded credit cards, payment of legal fees and tablet computers as they go to war for customers.

NZ commodity prices rose for a second month in September, in the strongest monthly gain in a year and a half.

The four Australian-owned banks earn more out of NZ than banks in most other countries, but that's the price of a sound financial system, says Alan Bollard.

ANZ's decision to cull the National brand is little more than 'a colour change' and should have little effect on customers, says the bank's chief executive.

Join us today from 1pm for a live chat with ANZ chief executive David Hisco on the decision to phase out the National Bank brand.

Rival banks could "very well" use financial incentives to attract customers upset by the closure of the National brand, a banking expert says.

ANZ National Bank has confirmed that after almost ten years of operating ANZ and The National Bank in New Zealand, the two brands will be brought together as ANZ.

An outsider tuning in to the Valerie Adams medal ceremony could be excused for thinking Adams came from the small Pacific nation of "ANZ Bank".