•    Not content with consumer electronics and homewares, insurance and other lifestyle services, listed retail group Kogan Australia is to offer a range of white label owner occupier and investor home loans through its Kogan Money brand, a licensed representative for loan broking firm Mortgage Direct. The mortgages are funded by Adelaide Bank, with extras such as a redraw facility and interest-only options; and Pepper Group, which brings non-conforming loans to the Kogan mix - for instance, borrowers with "non-standard income, previous financial setbacks or are self-employed" can be accommodated.•    American Express Go, a virtual payments card, has been launched in Australia, targeted at mid- and large-sized companies with temporary workers or contractors. Amex was keen to promote the control aspects of this product, noting a company can issue individual virtual cards, each with pre-set spend and timeframe limits, and can 'top-up' or cancel balances at any time, monitor spend in real time, and track and consolidate expenses easily using pre-determined project codes or employee IDs.  Amex said the virtual card is issued straight to a mobile wallet where it can be integrated with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay for contactless payments. •    The RBNZ took the opportunity at the Financial Stability Report release to send a strong signal to the life insurance industry that broker commissions in New Zealand are way out of whack with international comparisons. It included a chart showing that commissions on life insurance policies in NZ are 20.4 per cent of gross premium revenue. The country charging the next highest commissions is Mexico at a much lower 12.8 per cent and Australia sits at 9.2 per cent (compared to Denmark at just 0.2 per cent, Germany at 6 per cent, and the United States at 6.6 per cent). "It's an exciting chart," Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr said. "We put it there specifically because sunlight is a good disinfectant." Orr told the news conference that insurers should be bracing themselves for a tough report when the RBNZ and FMA release the findings of their review of insurance conduct and culture in January. •    Disillusionment with the Australian-owned Big Four banks in New Zealand is behind moves to set up a Maori bank, reports RNZ. The Maori Council said bank reluctance to lend to Maori was contributing to their low rate of home ownership (43 per cent of Maori own their home, compared to 63 per cent for the general population). The Council has formed a working group on housing affordability and is hoping to help establish a Maori-owned bank that would focus on building on Maori-owned land and granting small business loans. The Maori economy (including businesses owned by iwi) is now larger than NZ$40 billion, RNZ said.