The UK peer-to-peer lender RateSetter plans to establish operations in Australia this year, according to the Australian Financial Review.  The group, which has arranged more than A$300 million of loans in the UK since 2010, has raised $3 million of capital to support its local business. The local team will be led by Daniel Foggo, a former investment banker at Rothschild and Barclays Capital. New Zealand's SBS Bank has announced the retirement of chief executive Ross Smith at the end of July. Smith became CEO of the then Southland Building Society in 1992 when it had NZ$380 million in assets and 75 staff. SBS was registered as a bank in October 2008 and now has over NZ$3 billion in assets and 425 staff. SBS Bank said its board would consider both internal and external candidates for a successor to Smith, who is also to retire as a director. Moody's Investors Service has issued a report saying the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's limit on high loan-to-value ratio mortgages was credit positive for New Zealand's banks, given it had reduced their exposure to higher risk lending when house prices were near historic highs. "Slower originations of high-LVR mortgages will strengthen the equity buffers in banks' mortgage books against any potential decline in house prices," Moody's said. It noted ANZ NZ's position had improved the most, given its high LVR mortgages had fallen to 19.9 per cent of total mortgages from 21.7 per cent over the December quarter. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has registered a variation to the Credit Reporting Privacy Code that extends the grace period for late payments to be recorded in the payment history of a consumer's credit report from five to 14 days. Last month the Australian Retail Credit Association said Attorney-General George Brandis had requested a change to the code, in response to community concerns. The earlier decision to allow only a five-day grace period was the most contentious aspect of the new comprehensive credit reporting regime.