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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac have become the latest two majors to move on rates.
Shortly after National Australia Bank announced it would pass on 20 basis points of the Reserve Bank’s 25 basis point rate cut to borrowers, CBA and Westpac followed the major's lead.
Westpac cut 20 basis points from its standard variable rate, taking it to 6.51 per cent from 17 December.
Meanwhile, CBA also cut 20 basis points from its SVR, taking the new rate to 6.40 per cent.
Speaking about the decision to move 20 basis points, Westpac’s group executive of retail and business banking Jason Yetton said he was pleased to cut the lender’s SVR but recognised that it was still important for the bank to maintain its competitive savings rate for depositors.
"This is happening at a time when competition to provide these rates to savers has pushed up the cost of those deposits to historically high levels, especially when they have become increasingly important to us as we reduce our reliance on other sources of funding to support our lending,” he said.
These two latest movements means NAB still retains the lowest standard variable rate of all the majors. Of course, ANZ is still yet to announce their decision on rates – a process that will be finalised next Friday.
