| Home
Big 4 Australian banks slammed by central bank
Afghanistan News.Net
Thursday 11th March, 2010
Australia's big four banks have been accused of profiteering by hitting customers with unwarranted interest rate rises.
The Reserve Bank of Australia says the country's major banks have been escalating rates at a level inconsistent with their costs of funding.
"For the major banks, the increases in lending rates have more than fully offset their higher funding costs," the central bank said.
Aside from actual interest differentials, many of the big four banks have also unilaterally increased margins by as much as 400 to 500% relying on covenants put in place before the global financial crisis.
Competition among the banks has been sharply reduced in recent times with the absorption of two lesser, but highly competitive, banks being absorbed by the "big four." Bankwest has been taken over by the Commonwealth Bank, while Westpac has merged with St George.
The Australian banks have been criticised by consumer groups and the country's political leaders, for their actions on rates. While many businesses and major corporations have been struggling, and homeowners have been hit by rising mortgage costs, the Australian banks have been reporting multi billion dollar profits. The Commonwealth Bank recently reported a record net after tax profit for the half year ended 31 December 2009 of $2.914 billion, an increase of 36% on the prior period.
The Reserve Bank says the big four banks were the worst offenders when it came to excess pricing. Just a 25 basis points excess relates to billions of dollars in additional revenue, it says. Increases in margins at the CBA are believed to have been a major contributor to that bank's record half year profit.
The Australian big four banks are among the best-performing in the world. Their aggregate profit this year, following the worst global recession since the depression, will be in excess of $20 billion.  Email this story to a friend
Comments on this story
Anonymous
03-12-10, 02:21 AM |
Australian banks gouging customers says RBA
THIS ONE TOO! DON’T WASTE TOO MUCH TIME TO READ.
THE AUSTRALIAN CENTRAL BANK IS OWNED THE MASONS. THE BIG 4 AUSTRALIAN BANKS BELONG TO THE MASONS AS WELL.
IT IS KOOL-AID FOR THE HOT TOPICS.
|
Anonymous
03-12-10, 08:23 PM |
Greed caused the Global finacial crisis
If the Banks and RBA continue to bleed us dry then everyone looses.. Hurraay.. It is the circulation of money that creates wealth.. if all the money is taken out of soceity then NO MORE WEALTH ..
|
Anonymous
03-12-10, 10:09 PM |
Just leave the rates alone so we can plan our lives fr once
who can plan their lives with the rates going up and up with wages staying the same?
|
Anonymous
03-13-10, 12:21 AM |
Where to from here...?
so thge RBA has called the big bsnks profiteers......so what is it and the ACCC/ASIC, Fair Trading etc going to do to protect the general public from the banks' excess pricing?
It appears that its once again its finger pointing by the RBA and not enough action by it or the govt to do something about it.
This sucks!!!!
|
Have your say on this story
|
 |
 |
- UN removes five former Taliban members from sanctions list
The UN announced Friday it has removed five former senior members of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan from its sanctions blacklist. [read story]
- Six soldiers, 15 civilians killed in Afghanistan
Six NATO-led soldiers were killed in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan, while 15 Afghan civilians died in violence elsewhere in the country, officials said Friday. [read story]
- July deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan
July was the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the war there started nearly nine years ago, CNN reported Friday. [read story]
- Pakistanis see India as greater threat than Taliban, Al Qaeda
Pakistanis consider India a greater threat than Taliban and Al Qaeda with a quarter viewing Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for 2008 Mumbai attacks, favourably, according to a new study. [read story]
- British envoy to Pak to be summoned over Cameron's 'terror export' remarks
British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Adam Thomson, is likely to be summoned to the Foreign Office amidst a growing diplomatic spat over British Prime Minister David Cameron's remarks that Pakistan is promoting the 'export of terror' in Afghanistan and around the world. [read story]
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
