New Zealand's largest credit reporting company Veda Advantage said recently that younger New Zealanders are increasingly cautious of taking on more debt.

The biggest drop was confirmed among those aged 15-28 by Veda, which took under consideration the credit applications, which include hire purchase, credit cards, personal loans and mortgages.

The youngest age group aka Generation Y, displayed the biggest fall at 40 per cent, while total hire purchase inquiries for May were down 27 per cent from the same month last year.

ASB has turned out to be the first major bank to lift its five-year mortgage rate.

The bank has raised its longer term rate from 7.5% to 8%.

It should be noted that while cuts to the official cash rate have seen short term mortgage rates drop over several months, longer term rates have not followed suit.

Market analyst Martin Allison said that ASB's move is a sign of things to come.

It has been learnt that two orders freezing the funds of a fugitive Rotorua gas-station operator Leo Gao have been withdrawn by a Hong Kong court. Mr. Gao fled to China after he was mistakenly granted a $10 million overdraft.

The sum of $6.73 million was transferred by him to accounts in China and Hong Kong, including with Wynn International Marketing before police became aware of the case.

As per the media reports, a class action has been brought against ANZ and top executives by US investors on the account of misleading conduct over the failed stock lender Opes Prime.

If adhered to ANZ spokeswoman, the claim had no foundation and the bank was trying hard to have the claim terminated.

Plaintiff Legacy Solutions has alleged that risk controls of ANZ over its stock lending operations were poor.

As per the media reports, the dividend rate by Rabobank was set yesterday, effectively an interest rate, on its $280 million Tier 1 capital raising in New Zealand.

The dividend rate for the securities was set at 8.7864 percent by Rabobank, which was 3.75 percent higher than the five year swap rate of 5.0364 percent.

As on 18th June, 2014, the dividend rate would be reset with the aim for further five year at the same margin over the five year swap rate at that time.

As customers overdrew accounts or fell behind on credit card and loan repayments since the nation was hit hard by recession last year, almost $1.2billion was paid in bank penalties.

However when the fee haul were attacked by political leaders and consumer groups, the banks declared that only if customers change their behavior was there a chance to reduce fees.

As per the latest figures unveiled by the Reserve Bank yesterday, total fees collected by banks rose more than 8 per cent to $11.6 billion last year, the fastest growth rate in five years.