New Zealand's new Finance Minister Grant Robertson may have taken on a big task in hoping to convince the Reserve Bank it can run the economy hotter to get unemployment below four per cent. Robertson announced a review of the Reserve Bank Act this week to look at how to include a dual mandate of maximising employment alongside low inflation. (Robertson has said he wants to get unemployment down below four per cent). At his first monetary policy statement press conference yesterday, Acting Reserve Bank Governor Grant Spencer said the labour market was already well balanced or in equilibrium with unemployment at 4.6 per cent, and that unemployment below four per cent was likely to heat up inflation too much with the current structure of the economy. The potential for a conflict is growing between the RBNZ board, which is set to recommend a new Governor to Robertson, and the new Government's push to reform the bank. Spencer said at the press conference that the process to appoint a new Governor was well underway. He added that the Government's plans to include external advisors on a proposed monetary policy committee responsible for OCR decisions had "pluses and minuses" but overseas experience had seen both external and internal committee members making public comment and speeches with the result it had turned into "a bit of a circus". AMP Bank has launched its second securitisation deal for the year, to be known as the Progress 2017-2 Trust. S&P Global Ratings has assigned preliminary ratings to four of the five classes of prime residential mortgage-backed securities in the Progress 2017-2 Trust, a securitisation of prime residential mortgages originated by AMP Bank Ltd. n; the B and C notes were assigned ratings of AA (sf) and A (sf), respectively.

New research commissioned by Citi Australia has found that 38 per cent of Australians using reward credit cards are not satisfied with their current reward offering. Clarity around where cardholders can earn the most rewards points was the primary cause of dissatisfaction, with 44 per cent of those surveyed unclear about how they can collect the most rewards on their credit cards. A further 52 per cent of those surveyed are unclear on what their points can get them. Other than annual fees, choice of reward redemption options was found to be the most important factor when choosing a credit card.