Maurice Williamson has resigned as minister of building, land information, customs and statistics after revelations he called a high-ranking police officer in connection with Chinese businessman Donghua Liu, who had been arrested on domestic violence charges. Williamson had previously lobbied ministerial colleagues to grant citizenship to Liu, who was behind a $70 million development in Newmarket, Auckland, the Herald reported. …

ANZ New Zealand posted a 27 percent gain in first-half cash profit, recording the biggest gain among the four operating divisions of Australia’s third-largest lender after growing its home loan book and cutting costs. Cash profit, which excludes non-core items, rose to $887 million in the six months ended March 31, from $697 million a year earlier, the Auckland-based lender said …

The value of cash market trading on the NZX dropped 20 percent in the first quarter while a rise in smaller transaction drove a jump in overall volumes on the New Zealand bourse. Total trades rose 35 percent to 313,903 in the three months ending March 31 from a year earlier, NZX said in a statement. Trades of less than $50,000 jumped …