CHOICE has called on Australia’s major banks to provide households with the full benefit of today’s Reserve Bank interest rate cut.
CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland says anything less than a full pass-through will raise fresh doubts about competition in Australia’s banking sector.
“Official figures show Australia’s major banks are at near-record levels of profitability, and this is no time for them to be clipping the ticket on interest rate cuts,” says Mr Kirkland.1
“Over the last year we have seen the banking industry attempt to justify holding back rate cuts with complex references to wholesale funding.
“As the RBA Governor has noted today, Australian banks ‘have had no difficulty accessing funding’, so this should not be used as an excuse.
“The Governor’s statement makes it clear that the RBA’s move to cut the cash rate was in response to pressures in the economy, and it’s time to take that some of that pressure off households,” Mr Kirkland says.2
1. See the chart ‘Bank Profitability – Profits and Bad Debt Charges’ at http://www.rba.gov.au/chart-pack/banking-indicators.html
2. See Statement by Glenn Stevens, Governor: Monetary Policy Decision, 2 October 2012 http://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2012/mr-12-30.html