ISCOVER
Less than five minutes after the Reserve Bank of Australia announced it had cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points, the first lenders have started to follow suit.
At 2:32pm today, National Australia Bank announced it would pass on the full 25 basis point rate cut to its customers.
The announcement, made via the lender’s Twitter account, informed borrowers that NAB’s new standard variable rate would be 5.88 per cent.
Minutes later, the Bank of Queensland followed suit, passing on the rate cut in full – taking its SVR to 6.01 per cent, while ING DIRECT also made the move, cutting 25 basis points from its SVR – taking the rate on its Mortgage Simplifier product to 5.22 per cent.
Speaking about the Reserve Bank’s decision to trim a further 25 basis points from the already historic low rate of 2.75 per cent, governor Glenn Stevens said the fact that Australia continues to grow at a bit below trend gave the board room to move on rates.
“The Board has previously noted that the inflation outlook could provide some scope to ease policy further, should that be required to support demand. At today's meeting, and taking account of recent information on prices and activity, the Board judged that a further decline in the cash rate was appropriate,” he said.
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