Elysse Morgan from ABC reports that new research by one of Europe’s biggest banks suggests that Australian banks are hiking interest rates to protect profit margins, not to cover higher funding costs as they have insisted. But the Australian Bankers’ Association has dismissed the study and says lenders may have to raise their rates again.
The study by Societe Generale shows nearly all funding costs for Australian lenders have fallen in the last six months. Societe Generale’s head of strategy in Asia, Christian Carrillo, says the banks’ claims about rising costs are dubious.
“Research suggests that effectively pretty much every source of funding that they use in terms of domestic deposits, short-term funding onshore, long-term funding onshore, has actually gone down,” Mr Carrillo said. ”There has been some widening in spreads between offshore funding rates and the rates that they use to hedge against, but if you take into account the overall rate they pay to fund overseas, even that has actually come down slightly.” Read the full article »»»»
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