The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has removed mortgage loan-to-value ratio restrictions for 12 months, effective from today (1 May). The Bank said its decision was made in line with its financial stability mandate, and was intended to limit any undue impact on borrowers or lenders as part of the mortgage deferral scheme implemented in response to COVID-19. Deputy governor and general manager of financial stability Geoff Bascand said it was unlikely that banks would now weaken lending standards to high risk borrowers. "The more likely risk is that banks are overly cautious with lending to credit-worthy borrowers," he said. Buy now pay later player Openpay released its quarterly business update for the period ended 31 March 2020, and stated that its total transaction value grew to A$45.8 million for the quarter, up 80 per cent relative to same period a year ago, generating revenue of $5.3m for the quarter, up 71 per cent relative to pcp. Changes in customer behaviour have meant online business contributed 32 per cent of transaction value, versus 7 per cent in the same period last year. Net bad debts as a percentage of total transaction value increased to 4.7 per cent due to "a significant increase in targeted fraud over the Christmas retail period", the company said. Digital banking services and payments company Novatti Group Ltd has reported revenue for the March quarter of A$1.72 million. In an ASX trading update the company said this result was up by 11 per cent on the December quarter, and by 67 per cent year-on-year. Peter Cook, managing director of Novatti, said the result was in part due to automation of the company's payments processing business. In early April Novatti acquired a business process integration and payments service, Emerson, as a bolt-on cash-generating business. The cash plus scrip deal initially valued Emerson at about $2.7 million. Novatti's application for a restricted ADI licence is on hold as APRA has paused all neobank approvals during COVID-19.