In a rare move of unity, Australia’s major four banks made a joint statement yesterday and said they had collectively settled a dispute with the New Zealand tax authorities and will pay $NZ2.2 billion between them to end all claims against them.
New Zealand’s Commissioner of Inland Revenue has been pursuing the local subsidiaries of NAB (ASX:NAB), Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA), Westpac (ASX:WBC) and ANZ (ASX:ANZ) over a series of collateralised loan transactions from 1998 to 2005.
The banks said that following recent legal rulings they believed it was better to reach a deal with tax authorities than pursue individual legal proceedings.
Westpac is understood to have paid the most at about $NZ720 million while NAB has paid $NZ658 million, Commbank's ASB subsidiary $NZ264 million.
ANZ said yesterday that it has agreed to pay $NZ414 million.
ANZ posted a 2009 net profit of $2.943 billion for the year to September 30.
