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Big four act on rate rise - November 2009

By Staff Reporter
04 November 2009 | 9 minute read

The nation’s big four banks have wasted no time in passing on the Reserve Bank’s 25 basis point increase.

ANZ was the first of the majors to move, raising its variable mortgage rate within 10 minutes of Reserve Bank’s announcement.

When detailing the rate rice the market, ANZ’s acting chief executive in Australia, Graham Hodges, warned that the bank might yet have to lift the price of lending outside the official rate cycle.

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He said there is currently “considerable pressure on mortgage margins”.

“If sustained over time, there will be commercial pressure to pass the additional costs on,” Mr Hodges said.

“The right thing to do at this point in the economic cycle is for us to absorb the additional funding costs and pass on only the amount of today’s official increase.”

ANZ and Westpac will now offer a 6.31 per cent standard variable rate, while CBA and NAB offer a slightly more competitive 6.24 per cent.

St George matched the rate increases of the big four, lifting its variable rate by 25 basis points.

Overall borrowers can expect to pay an extra $40 per month on an average $250,000 household mortgage as a result of yesterday’s rate hikes. SA.

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