New Zealand's Commerce Commission has delayed legal action against ANZ, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank's ASB over allegations the banks mis-sold swaps contracts to farmers before the 2008 financial crisis. The Commission said last year it intended to launch legal action in March this year, but it released a statement yesterday saying it was assessing new information and had entered a "standstill" agreement with the banks until mid-year while it discussed a resolution of its concerns with them.It said it had used its new compulsory interview powers, which came into law just before Christmas, to interview current and former bank staff.   "The Commission now anticipates making a further announcement mid-year, once it has furthered discussions with each bank about the information it holds and any possible resolution of the Commission's concerns," the Commission said."The Commission has entered into a 'standstill agreement' with each bank that means there will be no barrier to any proceedings brought by the Commission as a result of taking this extra time," it said.In an echo of the swaps mis-selling cases in Britain that led to significant settlements, the Commerce Commission said last year there was sufficient evidence to indicate the three banks may have breached clauses of the Fair Trading Act relating to misleading or deceptive conduct.It said then that interest rate swaps contracts were typically provided to large corporate and institutional customers, but from 2005 were offered by various banks to rural customers throughout New Zealand. The Commission began its inquiries in August 2012 after a delegation of farmers protested that their interest costs had spiked to over 15 per cent from 5 per cent after the imposition of break fees and other costs in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. Farmers advocates said last year that hundreds of farmers bought NZ$6 billion of the swaps products before 2008, believing they would protect them against big interest rate rises, but were instead stung with big break fees and risk premia when the financial crisis struck.