(4 October 2011 – New Zealand) The Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has announced initiatives to save small business clients a collective NZ$5 million (A$3.9 million) per annum and provide facilities to take their business to the next level.A first in worldwide banking, BNZ’s TotalMoney account – which has already saved customers a total of NZ$75 million, is now available for small business.
BNZ Director of Retail Andy Symons says Total Money is unparalleled in New Zealand, and opening it to small business is the next step forward in innovative banking.
“We have identified that more than 6,000 of our current small business clients will be at least NZ$10 a month better off on TotalMoney, with around 10 percent of these NZ$100 better off a month,” said Mr Symons.
BNZ challenged itself to work harder to meet the distinct needs of small business owners whose number one priority is to have greater control of their cashflow, and own the ability to pay down debt faster.
This has already contributed to BNZ’s 7 percent increase in small business market share over the last 12 months, and saw BNZ win the CANSTAR CANNEX small business bank of the year award earlier this month.
The benefits of Total Money for small business include earning maximum interest with funds between accounts, credit interest in transaction accounts, no cash handling fees, free alerts, online statements, and being able to simultaneously hold multiple accounts.
Small business sole-traders can also include their personal accounts as part of their TotalMoney package, giving them the ability to offset their mortgages against their business accounts.
Also announced this week was development of The Edge centre, an office facility in central Auckland available for BNZ small business clients to use at no cost. The Edge gives customers access to world-class facilities, including video conferencing, and will be completed in mid-October.