Standard and Poor's reaffirmed its ratings for ten big New Zealand banks and finance companies, and said the slowdown in house price growth had put banks in a stronger position and eased economic risk. It rates NZ's major banks at AA-, while the country has a sovereign rating of AA with a positive outlook. S&P said annual house price inflation has fallen to about 3 per cent, compared with about 15 per cent four years ago. "The slower house price growth has moderately reduced the likelihood of a severe house price correction and with it, the potential losses that banks in New Zealand may face in such a scenario," it said in a statement. "We do not expect house price inflation to return to the lofty levels seen in 2015 and 2016." An industry-led review of New Zealand's capital markets - Capital Markets 2029 - has recommended a series of measures aimed at bolstering the country's relatively small capital markets, including tweaks to KiwiSaver settings, potential tax changes and hopes that local and central Government will use debt and equity listings to raise capital from existing assets and for new infrastructure. The suggested changes to KiwiSaver include mandating employer contributions, reinstating a kick-start payment, allowing KiwiSavers to self-manage funds and replacing default KiwiSaver provider status with KiwiSaver default funds.