Monday media round-up 19/12/11

This week's pick of recent personal finance stories:
 

• Big banks relaxing mortgage rules 
  The big banks are increasing the amount of residential mortgages they're writing with loan to value ratios (LVRs) in excess of 80 per cent. (NZ Herald)
   
• Bernard Hickey: Fault lines to watch
  After a year of tectonic shifts in finance and geography, New Zealanders could do with a break. But those with an eye on matters financial may not get much of a rest over summer. (NZ Herald)
   
• Insurance deal will make the biggest firm even bigger
  An insurance giant with nearly a million customers will be the result of IAG's takeover of AMI, says IAG's top New Zealand executive. (NZ Herald)
   
• Murray Sherwin: Making housing more affordable
  So you are about to buy a house? You will have a head full of hopes, dreams and ambitions for your new home - and some limitations. House-buying for most is about choices, compromises and trade-offs. (NZ Herald)
   
• Brian Gaynor: Power company might fly better than Air NZ 
  It is now official: Mighty River Power will be the first initial public offering under the Government's "mixed ownership model" strategy. (NZ Herald)
   
• Diana Clement: The 12 traps of Christmas spending
  With an eye on the budget, Diana Clement offers some tips to avoid financial pratfalls this festive season. (NZ Herald)
   
• New Zealand's insurance landscape rocked
  The sequence of earthquakes in Christchurch in the past 15 months has resulted in a vastly altered perception of New Zealand in the eyes of the giant offshore reinsurers, companies that insure our insurers against natural disaster losses they cannot handle alone. (Stuff)
   
• Tips to avoid the performance fee trap
  Managed funds have become an increasingly popular way for retail investors to spread their portfolios across a wide range of assets for relatively little money. But while acquiring small units in a larger investment structure makes sense, these funds are typically structured so they include performance fees. (Stuff)
   
• Keeping Christmas costs down
  It may be better to give than receive, but nearly 70 per cent of New Zealanders plan to spend less this Christmas than they did last year. (Stuff)
   
• KiwiSaver 'may cut national savings'
  KiwiSaver has been only "modestly successful" at getting poorer people to save for their retirement, a new Treasury report says, warning that the scheme "may in fact reduce national savings". (Stuff)
   
• Online shopping popular at Christmas time
  New Zealand's eftpos figures show pre-Christmas shopping is off to a slow start, but all the signs for online retailers point to a much merrier festive season. (Stuff)
   
• Housing affordability affects pensions
  The Productivity Commission has warned there could be wide-reaching effects for pensions and government accommodation subsidies if housing affordability is not tackled. (Stuff)