What they do helps New Zealand businesses operate, grow and prosper so jobs are created, families and lifestyles are sustained, communities thrive, and individual New Zealanders are able to realise their home ownership, lifestyle, investment and retirement dreams. They are proud of the work they do and they are proud to be a bank that fosters a diverse workforce. The great honour of the present is to respect and care for the past, so that it might enrich the life of the future. In the 1860s, while Central Otago was in the grip of gold fever, Bank of New Zealand began to build its history. On the virtual timeline below view world, New Zealand and BNZ events, from world wars to innovation and new technology.