In a move mirroring the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ have cut their variable home loan rates by 10 basis points.
The reduction comes after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the cash rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday bringing the rate down to a 49-year low of 3 per cent.
ANZ’s variable home loan rates will come down to 5.81 per cent effective April 17 while Westpac’s variable rates will also go down to 5.81 per cent effective April 20.
Not one of the big four banks passed on the full rate cut with National Australia Bank deciding not to cut at all.
“Tight competition for customer deposits and volatile wholesale funding markets are keeping our funding costs high”, ANZ head of Australian operations Brian Hartzer said on Wednesday.
“But ANZ understands the current economic environment is placing a strain on many households.”
Westpac however passed on the full benefit of the RBA rate cut to its business customers, cutting their business loan rates by 0.25 percentage points.
“Westpac’s overall funding costs have continued to rise, as existing funding matures and is replaced by more expensive sources of funding”, Peter Hanlon, Westpac Group Executive of retail and business banking said.
The banks had been under pressure by the government to pass on rate cuts in full and Tuesday’s moves by CBA and NAB drew the ire of Treasurer Wayne Swan.
“They do need a good kick up the bum occasionally. So, on this occasion, I’m not happy with it. The Prime Minister isn’t happy with it. He’s asked them to reconsider”, said Swan in a radio interview.
