Westpac has hit back at grandstanding politicians and media outlets hammering banks over what they deem ‘high’ mortgage rates with a detailed examination of banks’ funding costs.

ANZ Bank is cutting its 2009 full-year dividend 25% but assures investors that its underlying business performance remains resilient.

In a trading update issued this morning, ANZ says its Asia Pacific pro forma profit after tax for the four months to January was around $A1.2 billion, a decrease of 11% over the corresponding period in 2008.

The bank – Australia’s fourth largest lender – said its total provisions were running in line with market consensus at between $A2.4 billion and $A2.5 billion.

There’s no guarantee New Zealanders overseas who lose their jobs in the credit crunch will return home, says a company that helps expats find jobs here.

Track Me Back provides an online link between New Zealand companies looking for qualified staff and Kiwis living overseas who want to have secured employment before they return home.

But while New Zealanders are among the thousands of workers being laid off worldwide, Track Me Back general manager Stuart Maxwell says New Zealand still has work to do to entice them home.

Donald Trump’s wallet is taking a hit, with developments in strife around the globe thanks to a perfect storm of economic conditions.

International media reports detail a variety of troubled ventures that Mr Trump took on in sunnier times, before the credit crunch hit and the property market deflated to a level somewhat resembling sanity.

One Trump Organisation project, a 62-storey skyscraper in Dubai, has had to be put on hold due to the sudden collapse of the luxury apartment market in that country.

The financial crisis could have a grave impact on biotechnology and agricultural science down under, according to experts from both sides of the Tasman at the Horizons science conference in Christchurch.

A joint venture between New Zealand pastoral food Research Institute AgResearch and Australia’s CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), the conference is a three-day discussion on the agricultural sector in both countries.

One topic dominated discussion on the first day: the credit crunch.

The official cash rate is becoming less and less relevant for mortgage holders, the BNZ says.

The bank’s chief financial officer, Ken Christie, says because the majority of New Zealanders tend to borrow at a fixed rate, the reference rate should be swap rates rather than the official cash rate.

“You lend for 25 years but your rate doesn’t depend on what the overnight cash rate is for the next 25 years,” he says.