Banking Prudential Requirements

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Standards and requirements for banks

Read the policy documents relating to the current prudential requirements for banks (was called the Banking Supervision Handbook) and links to capital and disclosure requirements.

Published:

Last updated:

Capital requirements

We have published the current capital requirements for locally incorporated, registered banks in New Zealand, as well as the new requirements being phased in as a result of our Capital Review.

Capital requirements for banks in New Zealand

Disclosure requirements

The requirements for registered banks in New Zealand to publish six-monthly disclosure statements are set by Orders in Council, and the details are provided on the Disclosure requirements for banks in New Zealand page.

Disclosure requirements for banks in New Zealand

The remaining requirements that formed part of the former Banking Supervision Handbook are listed in the table below.

Document

Document reference

Date of issue

Statement of principles – bank registration and supervision (PDF 1.1 MB)

BS1

October 2021

Capital requirements and credit risk requirements

BS2A and BS2B replaced by BPR100 to BPR160

October 2021

Application for status as a registered bank: Material to be provided to the Reserve Bank (PDF 90 KB)

BS3

March 2011

Audit obligations (PDF 68 KB)

BS4

June 2014

Guidelines on anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism (PDF 71 KB)

BS5

June 2016

Market risk guidance (PDF 1.3 MB)

BS6 has been replaced by BPR140 (see above)

October 2021

Previous documents BS7 and BS7A: see Disclosure requirements for banks in New Zealand

BS7 and BS7A

Connected exposures policy (PDF 679 KB)

BS8

October 2023

Application for consent to acquire or increase significant influence over a registered bank: Material to be provided to the Reserve Bank (PDF 53 KB)

BS9

April 2013

Review of suitability of bank directors and senior managers (PDF 62 KB)

BS10

March 2011

Outsourcing policy (PDF 954 KB) Also see accompanying documents below.

BS11

September 2022

Guidelines on a bank's internal capital adequacy assessment process (PDF 1 MB)

BS12 is now incorporated into BPR100

October 2021

Liquidity policy (PDF 714 KB)

BS13

July 2022

Liquidity policy annex: liquid assets (PDF 846 KB)

BS13A

July 2022

Corporate governance (PDF 95 KB)

BS14

July 2014

Significant acquisitions policy (PDF 129 KB)

BS15

December 2011

Application requirements for capital recognition or repayment and notification (PDF 1.2 MB)

BS16 has been replaced by BPR120

October 2021

Open Bank Resolution (OBR) pre-positioning requirements policy (PDF 1.3 MB)

BS17

June 2022

Registration of covered bonds: process and information requirements (PDF 79 KB)

BS18

December 2013

Framework for restrictions on high-LVR residential mortgage lending (PDF 434 KB)

BS19

October 2021

Restrictions on High Debt-To-Income Residential Mortgage Lending (PDF 1 MB)

BS20

April 2023

Loans covered by the North Island Weather Events Loan Guarantee Scheme

On 28 July 2023, we wrote to banks to set out how they should treat loans with Crown indemnities under the North Island Weather Events Loan Guarantee Scheme. A copy of the letter is available here.

Regulatory treatment of loans in North Island Weather Events Loan Guarantee Scheme letter (PDF 225KB)

Accompanying documents for the outsourcing policy

Under the outsourcing policy (BS11) dated September 2017, we may issue a list of exempt functions and services (the 'exempt list') and a list of pre-approved functions and services.

Your bank may enter in to arrangements included in the exempt list without needing our non-objection, but you must still ensure such arrangements comply with the rest of the policy.

BS11 also allows us to issue application forms to banks.

Outsourcing policy transitional

The 2006 version of the outsourcing policy has been superseded. However, any bank subject to the outsourcing policy as at 30 September 2017 must continue to meet any relevant requirements of the 2006 policy for a transitional period of six years from that date, as well as being subject to the current version of the policy listed in the main table above.

Document

Document reference

Date of issue

Outsourcing policy BS11 2006 (PDF 45 KB)

BS11

January 2006

Changes to the Banking Supervision Handbook

May 2021

We published revised versions of our banking handbook documents BS13 and BS13A that set out the liquidity policy applying to registered banks. These revisions came into force on 1 May 2021.

The changes introduced a new scale which modified the eligibility limits for residential mortgage-backed securities as liquid assets for the purpose of calculating mismatch ratios under the policy. The changes also specified the treatment of our Funding for Lending Programme and related assets for making calculations under the policy.

March 2021

In March 2021, we published revised versions of our working copies of the two Orders in Council, which set out the disclosure requirements for registered banks. These revisions incorporate changes made by Amendment Orders on 23 February 2021 and came into force on 31 March 2021.

The changes mean that a bank will no longer have to disclose all breaches of its conditions of registration over its most recent reporting period, only those that are most significant.

We have also updated document BS7: Registered bank disclosure regime – overview of Orders in Council and related documents. These changes are the final step in rolling out the new approach to the public disclosure of bank breaches, which came into effect from 1 January 2021.

Read more about public disclosure of bank breaches

About the bank prudential requirements

We encourage you and your advisers to make the bank prudential requirement documents (formerly called the Banking Supervision Handbook) your first point of reference on any matters relating to banking supervision.

Where the documents above do not provide the information you need, let us know. In general, the best person to contact will be the analyst responsible for your bank.

You can subscribe to a free email list to keep informed of updates to this page.

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For all other queries about the bank prudential requirements, email rbnz-info@rbnz.govt.nz