Latest news with #Westpac
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- General
- RNZ News
Woman seriously injured in cliff fall at Auckland beach
A rescue helicopter landed on rocks near the base of the cliff and flew the injured woman to Auckland City Hospital. Photo: Supplied / Auckland Rescue A woman suffered life-threatening injuries after falling 20 metres down a cliff onto rocks at an Auckland beach. The accident occurred about 3.45pm on Monday at Musick Point, a popular reserve at the tip of a peninsula near Bucklands Beach. A Westpac rescue helicopter landed on rocks nearby and flew her in a critical condition to Auckland City Hospital. An update on her condition on Tuesday morning was not yet available.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Former Otago Spirit captain tackling agribusiness
Julia Gorinski reckons some of the skills she learned on the rugby field may come in handy in her new role in the banking field. Ms Gorinski, 30, is a household name in Otago rugby, as the former Otago Spirit captain, Matatū Super Rugby Aupiki player and Varsity veteran. Having hung up her representative boots last year after playing her 65th cap for the Otago Spirit in the Farah Palmer Cup championship final, she moved straight into the Varsity coaching role this season. A few weeks ago, she became Westpac's Otago-Southland agribusiness manager, a role which included overseeing other managers and she reckoned that could be where some of her captaining skills were useful. Brought up on the Taieri, Ms Gorinski had her heart set on becoming a vet, but she did not enjoy Palmerston North and returned south after one semester. Attending a careers expo, she saw rural banking being promoted and, with a love of farming and an enjoyment of economics, business and accounting at school, she decided that could be the ideal job. In 2016, she graduated from the University of Otago with a commerce degree, with a double major in accounting and finance, and a diploma in environmental management, something she could see would be important to assist with farming into the future. She also quipped it was an opportunity to stay at university longer to keep playing sport. She could not initially get an agri-banking job, so she had a short stint working as an accountant but discovered it was not for her. She had never previously had an office job — she was a keen outdoors girl who had worked on farms around the area and qualified as an AI technician — and this role was solely "number crunching". Nearly eight years ago, she got a job with Westpac as an agri-analyst and became a manager two years after she started and then a senior manager with her own client portfolio. With her latest promotion, she would probably keep a handful of clients, but the role was mostly about overseeing other managers and the wider customer base. She worked closely with portfolio manager Debbie Hunter, who had been with the bank for 12 years and had a wealth of experience, and her support had made it easier for Ms Gorinski to step into the role. Ms Gorinski felt a sense of loyalty to Westpac; they gave her "a crack" at the beginning of her career and she was only in her mid-20s when she got a manager's role. She also liked the way the bank did business, and the autonomy given to staff to help customers. She intended staying with the bank and also staying in the South. She loved being in a rural team and, while it had been a challenging few years, things were "certainly on the way up" in the rural sector. Saying her degree in hard work came from her father, she had learned plenty growing up in shearing sheds and picking up lambs at tailing time. Working with farmers was a highlight of her job and she found it a good mix of practical farming — even though she was not working on-farm — and crunching numbers. It was also nice to see farmers' businesses expand and grow. As far as her rugby involvement, Ms Gorinski played a couple of games this season which she enjoyed — "til I woke up on Sunday". Coaching had been a good way to ease her way out of playing and her new job had also given her a new focal point, although she expected it would be a bit harder when the Otago season rolled around.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Spirit ex-captain tackling agribusiness
Julia Gorinski reckons some of the skills she learned on the rugby field may come in handy in her new role in the banking field. Ms Gorinski, 30, is a household name in Otago rugby, as the former Otago Spirit captain, Matatū Super Rugby Aupiki player and Varsity veteran. Having hung up her representative boots last year after playing her 65th cap for the Otago Spirit in the Farah Palmer Cup championship final, she moved straight into the Varsity coaching role this season. A few weeks ago, she became Westpac's Otago-Southland agribusiness manager, a role which included overseeing other managers and she reckoned that could be where some of her captaining skills were useful. Brought up on the Taieri, Ms Gorinski had her heart set on becoming a vet, but she did not enjoy Palmerston North and returned south after one semester. Attending a careers expo, she saw rural banking being promoted and, with a love of farming and an enjoyment of economics, business and accounting at school, she decided that could be the ideal job. In 2016, she graduated from the University of Otago with a commerce degree, with a double major in accounting and finance, and a diploma in environmental management, something she could see would be important to assist with farming into the future. She also quipped it was an opportunity to stay at university longer to keep playing sport. She could not initially get an agri-banking job, so she had a short stint working as an accountant but discovered it was not for her. She had never previously had an office job — she was a keen outdoors girl who had worked on farms around the area and qualified as an AI technician — and this role was solely "number crunching". Nearly eight years ago, she got a job with Westpac as an agri-analyst and became a manager two years after she started and then a senior manager with her own client portfolio. With her latest promotion, she would probably keep a handful of clients, but the role was mostly about overseeing other managers and the wider customer base. She worked closely with portfolio manager Debbie Hunter, who had been with the bank for 12 years and had a wealth of experience, and her support had made it easier for Ms Gorinski to step into the role. Ms Gorinski felt a sense of loyalty to Westpac; they gave her "a crack" at the beginning of her career and she was only in her mid-20s when she got a manager's role. She also liked the way the bank did business, and the autonomy given to staff to help customers. She intended staying with the bank and also staying in the South. She loved being in a rural team and, while it had been a challenging few years, things were "certainly on the way up" in the rural sector. Saying her degree in hard work came from her father, she had learned plenty growing up in shearing sheds and picking up lambs at tailing time. Working with farmers was a highlight of her job and she found it a good mix of practical farming — even though she was not working on-farm — and crunching numbers. It was also nice to see farmers' businesses expand and grow. As far as her rugby involvement, Ms Gorinski played a couple of games this season which she enjoyed — "til I woke up on Sunday". Coaching had been a good way to ease her way out of playing and her new job had also given her a new focal point, although she expected it would be a bit harder when the Otago season rolled around.
Scoop
2 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Money In Transaction Accounts Costing New Zealanders Billions
, Money Correspondent New Zealanders may be leaving money on the table by keeping their cash in transaction accounts. David Cunningham, chief executive of mortgage broking firm Squirrel, said there was significantly more money in transaction accounts now than before Covid. Most banks do not pay interest on transaction accounts. Cunningham said transaction account balances had peaked at $53 billion when interest rates were close to zero, and people could see little reason to change. It had fallen to a recent low of $37b but had now lifted again to $39b. "Almost all of this earns 0 percent [interest]." If that money was shifted into an account paying 3 percent, it would give savers just under $1.2 billion in interest a year. Cunningham said before Covid hit, there was about $28 billion in transaction accounts. "You're always going to need some float in your transaction accounts but a lot of this is lazy money." He said it was customer inertia that also delivered higher profits to the banks, because they could make money from the cash sitting in the accounts. But he said banks should be encouraging customers to check that they had their money in the right accounts. "Every time you log in they could remind you that you've got say $20,000 in a transaction account earning nothing and if you moved it to savings you could earn x… that would be a way to make sure people were better off," Cunningham said. Claire Matthews, a banking expert from Massey University, said some people kept their money in transaction accounts because of the ease of access. "They may have concerns about fees to access it if it's in a savings account. Partly I think it's because they don't think the interest will be worth it - but they may not have actually looked at the numbers, because depending on the amount it may be very worthwhile over time. Partly, however, it is probably just not getting around to doing it." Banks have been cutting rates for term deposits and some savings this week, after the official cash rate reduction. Westpac said on Thursday it was cutting the rate offered on a number of term deposits by 10 basis points. ASB said it was cutting the rate offered on its Savings On Call, ASB Cash Fund, Savings Plus and Headstart accounts by 20 basis points. That took the Headstart rate to 2.7 percent.
1News
2 days ago
- Business
- 1News
Money in transaction accounts costing Kiwis billions
New Zealanders may be leaving money on the table by keeping their cash in transaction accounts. David Cunningham, chief executive of mortgage broking firm Squirrel, said there was significantly more money in transaction accounts now than before Covid. Most banks do not pay interest on transaction accounts. Cunningham said transaction account balances had peaked at $53 billion when interest rates were close to zero, and people could see little reason to change. It had fallen to a recent low of $37b but had now lifted again to $39b. ADVERTISEMENT "Almost all of this earns 0% [interest]." If that money were shifted into an account paying 3%, it would give savers just under $1.2 billion in interest a year. Cunningham said before Covid hit, there was about $28 billion in transaction accounts. "You're always going to need some float in your transaction accounts, but a lot of this is lazy money." (Source: He said it was customer inertia that also delivered higher profits to the banks, because they could make money from the cash sitting in the accounts. But he said banks should be encouraging customers to check that they had their money in the right accounts. ADVERTISEMENT "Every time you log in, they could remind you that you've got say $20,000 in a transaction account earning nothing, and if you moved it to savings you could earn x… that would be a way to make sure people were better off," Cunningham said. Claire Matthews, a banking expert from Massey University, said some people kept their money in transaction accounts because of the ease of access. "They may have concerns about fees to access it if it's in a savings account. Partly, I think it's because they don't think the interest will be worth it - but they may not have actually looked at the numbers, because depending on the amount, it may be very worthwhile over time. Partly, however, it is probably just not getting around to doing it." Banks have been cutting rates for term deposits and some savings this week, after the official cash rate reduction. Westpac said on Thursday it was cutting the rate offered on a number of term deposits by 10 basis points. ASB said it was cutting the rate offered on its Savings On Call, ASB Cash Fund, Savings Plus and Headstart accounts by 20 basis points. That took the Headstart rate to 2.7%.
