The New Zealand government has released a discussion document setting out options for action to tighten the rules around business payments and lessen the stress of late payments for small businesses. Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash says late payments to small businesses by larger enterprises effectively force small suppliers to be a source of free credit, and he is prepared to legislate to set minimum standards for payment terms. The government is proposing a maximum payment term of 20 days; and giving small businesses the right to charge interest on overdue invoices and debt recovery fees for late payments. It says other options for discussion include a disclosure regime requiring large businesses to publicly report on their payment terms and payment times and a possible voluntary code of practice. Submissions close on 14 April. A new bulletin article from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand says cyber-attacks could cost New Zealand's financial sector more than NZ$100 million a year on average. Authors Aria Zhang, Rosie Collins, and Cavan O'Connor-Close estimate an indicative average cost of cyber incidents of $104 million a year for the banking sector and $38 million annually for the insurance sector, or the equivalent of 2-3 percent of annual profits for the two industries. The modelling also indicates that in any given year there is a 5 percent chance the costs could exceed $2.3 billion a year. New Zealand's cyber-security agency CERT NZ found more than 60 percent of cyberattacks on NZ organisations in 2018 targeted firms in the financial and insurance services sector.