Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006

301 Interest to be payable on nominated trust account

• (1) A bank at which a nominated trust account is kept must pay interest on the sums held in that account at the rate determined in accordance with subsection (2).

  (2) The rate of interest payable under subsection (1) by a bank in respect of a nominated trust account of a practitioner or incorporated firm must be—

  • (a) the rate of interest paid by that bank, during the month immediately preceding the date on which the interest payable on that nominated trust account is to be calculated, in respect of funds deposited, at call, with that bank, on behalf of that practitioner's or incorporated firm's clients, in an interest-bearing account in that practitioner's or incorporated firm's name; or

  • (b) if the bank held no such interest-bearing deposit account in that practitioner's or incorporated firm's name during that month, the rate of interest that would have been paid by that bank, during that month, in respect of the money in that nominated trust account if that money had been deposited, at call, in an interest-bearing deposit account at that bank.

  (3) Interest payable on a nominated trust account is payable on the daily balance of that account (as that account stands at the close of business of each day or, where the bank is not open for business on any day, at the close of that day), and must be calculated monthly.

  (4) Where the rate of interest required to be applied for the purposes of subsection (1) varies during any month, the rate of interest to be applied is to be the average rate of interest for that month (as determined in accordance with subsection (2)).

  (5) In lieu of all banking charges and fees that would otherwise be payable to it in respect of any nominated trust account, a bank is entitled to retain for its own use 40% of all interest payable by it on a nominated trust account.

  Compare: 1982 No 123 s 91L