ANZ keeps variable rate on hold
(12 March 2012 – Australia) ANZ chief executive Philip Chronican told of the bank’s monthly pricing decisions remaining difficult, after announcing its variable mortgage rate would remain steady.
The bank kept the standard variable mortgage rate at 7.36 percent, saying it offered 'stability' to its customers in March.
'We are walking a tightrope between our customers' interest in keeping rates as low as possible and the commercial reality that while monthly funding costs go up and down, the upward trend is likely to continue as new funding is still coming on at a wider spread to the cash rate than the funding it is replacing," Chronican said.
'On balance we took the view that stability was important for our variable rate mortgage and small business customers this month."
Earlier today, ANZ lifted the advertised rate on its Breakfree three-year fixed-rate package by 20 basis points to 6.19 percent, less than a month after it sliced the rate on the same package by 15 basis points.
ANZ lifted the rate on its standard variable rate by 6 basis points, or 0.06 percentage points, to 7.36 percent, in February, after the Reserve Bank kept official rates on hold.
The move set off a round of similar rate increases by the major banks and a number of smaller ones.
'We are walking a tightrope between our customers' interest in keeping rates as low as possible and the commercial reality that while monthly funding costs go up and down, the upward trend is likely to continue as new funding is still coming on at a wider spread to the cash rate than the funding it is replacing," Chronican said.
'On balance we took the view that stability was important for our variable rate mortgage and small business customers this month."
Earlier today, ANZ lifted the advertised rate on its Breakfree three-year fixed-rate package by 20 basis points to 6.19 percent, less than a month after it sliced the rate on the same package by 15 basis points.
ANZ lifted the rate on its standard variable rate by 6 basis points, or 0.06 percentage points, to 7.36 percent, in February, after the Reserve Bank kept official rates on hold.
The move set off a round of similar rate increases by the major banks and a number of smaller ones.
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