Against the tide: why Kiwi banks want to be clearing members

Rising fees and lack of leverage ratio cause some New Zealand banks to consider direct clearing

Through a glass darkly: New Zealand banks want access to cleared liquidity pool

The World Factbook from the CIA places New Zealand fifty-third on the list of the globe's largest economies, well outside membership of the Group of 20 nations, which published a commitment to move over-the-counter derivatives into central clearing at the end of its 2009 Pittsburgh Summit. But while G20 members such as Saudi Arabia and Russia are effectively absent from global derivatives markets, New Zealand has a much larger footprint in the sector than the size of its economy would suggest.

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