ANZ looks to follow rivals footsteps
(9 October 2012 – Australia) As Australian banks face yet another backlash, ANZ chief executive Phil Chronican said they are experiencing a "relentless" increase in costs as they shift their reliance from wholesale funding to deposits.
Later this week, ANZ will have its own rate decision and is expected to follow its big-four rivals, in holding out on a full 25 basis point interest rate cut.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and National Australia Bank (NAB) both lowered their standard variable rates by 20 basis points, while Westpac passed on a 18 basis point cut.
Since the start of the year, the ANZ has been conducting its own monthly review of interest rates. The go-it-alone pricing strategy takes place every second Friday and seeks to break the link in consumers' minds between official rate moves and the rates charged by the commercial banks.
Chronican told ABC television in the weekend that the cost of funding had ''gone up and up'', although he noted costs had started to stabilise this year.
Even so, ANZ was currently refinancing borrowings that were made between three and five years ago ''at materially lower costs''.
When the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut official interest rates to 3.25 percent last Tuesday, it said the banks were having ''no difficulty'' in accessing funds, after a recent lift in financial market confidence.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and National Australia Bank (NAB) both lowered their standard variable rates by 20 basis points, while Westpac passed on a 18 basis point cut.
Since the start of the year, the ANZ has been conducting its own monthly review of interest rates. The go-it-alone pricing strategy takes place every second Friday and seeks to break the link in consumers' minds between official rate moves and the rates charged by the commercial banks.
Chronican told ABC television in the weekend that the cost of funding had ''gone up and up'', although he noted costs had started to stabilise this year.
Even so, ANZ was currently refinancing borrowings that were made between three and five years ago ''at materially lower costs''.
When the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut official interest rates to 3.25 percent last Tuesday, it said the banks were having ''no difficulty'' in accessing funds, after a recent lift in financial market confidence.
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