It is believed that negotiations are under way for the Government-backed bank to buy BNZ from Australian owners NAB. A Reserve Bank spokesman said there were some hurdles for any deal to get through. "The key requirements are set out in the Reserve Bank's Significant Acquisitions policy. "The significant acquisition policy requires that an acquiring bank notifies the Reserve Bank, or receives a non-objection from the Reserve Bank prior to undertaking any significant acquisition. "Significance is measured relative to the acquiring bank's balance sheet - thresholds relative to the bank's capital and to the bank's total assets apply, the threshold of notification is lower than the threshold for non-objection.

Source: Stuff January 23, 2020 15:56 UTC