Unusual Notice from BNZ stating no access to Term Deposits over the weekend

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Unusual Notice from BNZ stating no access to Term Deposits over the weekend

Eva888

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#323984 12-Feb-2026 07:55

Call me suspicious but received an *email from BNZ this morning. Address seems legit. Never heard of this before and is rather concerning. Last time a bank closed access over the weekend it ended up with a percentage of money taken by the bank to cover their losses. Remember Cyprus imposing a one-time bank deposit 'levy' on all uninsured deposits and seizing around 48% of uninsured deposits. Happens to be on Friday 13th as well. Am I being paranoid?

I have left out any links.

*We’re letting you know about a planned outage which will affect BNZ Term PIE (Term PIE) and Term Deposit accounts.

From 4pm on Friday 13 February 2026, Term Deposit and Term PIE accounts will be temporarily unavailable to view in Internet Banking, Internet Banking for Business, the BNZ app, and the BNZ business app.

Our plan is to be back up and running again by the morning of Monday 16 February. You can check the Current status and outages page on our website for any updates.

What this means for you

You won’t be able to view or make changes to existing Term Deposit or Term PIE accounts, or open new ones during the planned outage. Our team at BNZ will also need to wait for the outage to finish before they can do this on your behalf.

Rest assured, any Term Deposit or Term PIE accounts you have will continue to earn interest during the outage.

You may notice some changes to the way you view, manage, and use Term Deposit and Term PIE accounts following the outage –

Your personal banking
If you want to change the maturity instructions for a Term Deposit before the outage, you can do this before 4pm on Friday 13 February by logging into Internet Banking or the BNZ app, selecting your Term Deposit account, and choosing what you want it to do at maturity.

If you’d like to make changes to a Term PIE account, you’ll need to get in touch with us so this can be actioned before 4pm on Friday 13 February.

Banking for your business
Please get in touch with us as soon as possible if you need to make changes to a Term Deposit or Term PIE account, so we can action your request before 4pm on Friday 13 February.

To make sure you continue to experience full functionality when banking online, it’s important to check you and your staff have the updated BNZ business app. Visit our website to see which version of the app you’re currently on, to learn about updating your operating system, or to check if your device is supported.

Important information

BNZ Investment Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harbour Asset Management Limited, is the manager and issuer of BNZ Term PIE.

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Hammered
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#3460833 12-Feb-2026 08:07

I'm not sure what your concern is?

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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eracode

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#3460834 12-Feb-2026 08:12

I received this and have also seen it on their website and app this morning.

I see nothing to be concerned about - some sort of system change or software upgrade. However if that is the case, it would have been good if they had actually said this or stated the reason for the outage. They did say: "You may notice some changes to the way you view, manage, and use Term Deposit and Term PIE accounts following the outage."

It's not a general or full closure of access - only to one product group.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

KiwiSurfer

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#3460843 12-Feb-2026 08:23

If they say you may notice some changes -- I would assume it's just a migration to a new/upgraded/etc system.

I have accounts with several other banks and they all have done this over the years. One that comes to mind is the massive ANZ migration when they moved all ANZ accounts onto the ex-NBNZ platform.

This BNZ one is small fish.

Nothing to see here really.

Eva888

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#3460848 12-Feb-2026 08:38

I’ve witnessed banks closing access over weekends in Europe and investments disappearing overnight. As stated above Cyprus Bank as one example and there are others.

This outage is only affecting investments, not your day to day banking run by BNZ. Your investments are not guaranteed therefore it is a concern when it follows a similar pattern of investments being lost over a weekend.

NB. BNZ Investment Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harbour Asset Management Limited, is the manager and issuer of BNZ Term PIE.

Stu

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#3460850 12-Feb-2026 08:43

I still don't understand the concern. As suggested above, it'll be an upgrade or migration or other such thing. Not uncommon, especially as systems grow.

Yes, "BNZ Investment Services Limited" is a wholly owned subsidiary of Harbour Asset Management Limited. This isn't new or concerning.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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Eva888

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#3460852 12-Feb-2026 08:48

My eyes have seen a lot so am less trusting than some. Hope everyone is correct and Harbours Asset Management are in good health. We will know on Monday.

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wellygary

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#3460857 12-Feb-2026 09:01

Eva888:

My eyes have seen a lot so am less trusting than some. Hope everyone is correct and Harbours Asset Management are in good health. We will know on Monday.

It'll be fine,

But BTW your first 100K are protected by the RBNZ depositor scheme,
https://www.bnz.co.nz/about-us/governance/corporate-governance/depositor-compensation-scheme

Eva888

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#3460877 12-Feb-2026 09:39

wellygary:

Eva888:

My eyes have seen a lot so am less trusting than some. Hope everyone is correct and Harbours Asset Management are in good health. We will know on Monday.

It'll be fine,

But BTW your first 100K are protected by the RBNZ depositor scheme,
https://www.bnz.co.nz/about-us/governance/corporate-governance/depositor-compensation-scheme

If you scroll down to Small Print at the end it appears we are not covered.

wellygary

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#3460883 12-Feb-2026 09:52

While the PIE fund isn't directly covered, it only invests in deposits with BNZ , which will likely have some cover.

littlehead

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#3460895 12-Feb-2026 10:01

You are covered, up to $100,000 total, as long as your accounts are listed on that page as being covered, which both Term Deposits and BNZ Term PIEs are.

BNZ is not allowed to list something on that page as being covered and then it not being covered. Term Deposits are usually covered by default. Term PIE's are not by default but they can be. As BNZ has listed them as a protected account covered by the DCS, they must be covered. That small print is just stating that BNZ Term PIE's are not a direct product of BNZ but another company and all the general investment risks and disclosures associated with that setup they need to provide. It is a risk disclosure, not a rejection of the DCS.

See the RBNZ DCS page:

https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/dcs/what-the-dcs-covers

From that page:

Some banks offer cash and term PIEs that invest only in debt of that bank. These may be covered by the DCS. We recommend checking your deposit taker’s website or asking your deposit taker to confirm. All deposit takers are required to have a list of protected deposits on their website.

wellygary

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#3460902 12-Feb-2026 10:19

littlehead:

You are covered, up to $100,000 total, as long as your accounts are listed on that page as being covered, which both Term Deposits and BNZ Term PIEs are.

But. the question is what degree of coverage?

Does the 100K limit apply to the PIE fund as a whole (its a single deposit), or does the BNZ customer information mean its 100K each ( you can only invest in the BNZ pie if you are a BNZ customer- even though its a product of another entity)

Until we have a bank blow up and the scheme is used ( and lawyered over) we will probably never know...

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Eva888

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#3460913 12-Feb-2026 10:25

As I read it, appears perfectly clear that there is no guarantee for Pie Funds.

BNZ Investment Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harbour Asset Management Limited, is the manager and issuer of BNZ Term PIE. Download a copy of the BNZ Term PIE Product Disclosure Statement (PDF 962KB), or pick up a copy from a BNZ branch.

Investments in BNZ Term PIE are not bank deposits or other liabilities of Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) or any other member of the National Australia Bank Limited group. They are subject to investment risk, including possible delays in repayment. You could get back less than the total contributed. No person (including the New Zealand Government) guarantees (either fully or in part) the performance or returns of BNZ Term PIE or the repayment of amounts contributed. National Australia Bank Limited, the ultimate owner of BNZ, is not a registered bank in New Zealand but a licensed bank in Australia and is not authorised to offer the products and services mentioned in this webpage to customers in New Zealand.

BNZ Investment Services Limited (BNZISL) uses the BNZ brand under licence from Bank of New Zealand, whose ultimate parent company is National Australia Bank Limited. No member of the FirstCape group (including BNZISL) is a member of the NAB group of companies (NAB Group). No member of the NAB Group (including Bank of New Zealand) guarantees, or supports, the performance of any member of FirstCape group’s obligations to any party.

eracode

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#3460938 12-Feb-2026 10:50

Eva888:

I’ve witnessed banks closing access over weekends in Europe and investments disappearing overnight. As stated above Cyprus Bank as one example and there are others.

I have no knowledge of what was the background and situation in Cypress and those other places - but I’m guessing what happened would have been in the midst of wider financial turmoil in those places. And in that case, what happened would not necessarily have surprised anyone. i.e. not out of the blue.

There’s no analogous situation here so IMO no need to worry about a parallel with BNZ’s planned outage.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

eracode

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#3460951 12-Feb-2026 11:12

I am interested in what happened in Cypress so looked it up online - Wikipedia.

As I suspected, when that happened in March 2013, Cyprus was in a deep financial crisis. This was triggered by huge losses its banks suffered on Greek sovereign debt and over-exposure to weak loans, combined with a fragile economy that couldn’t support its oversized banking sector.

Banks were fully closed for a weekend and depositors’ funds in excess of €100,000 were given a partial ‘haircut’.

The bailout arrangement was sanctioned by the EU, European Central Bank and the IMF.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Eva888

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#3460953 12-Feb-2026 11:14

Once burnt twice shy as they say. Hope you are correct.

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