Westpac mirrors ANZ, lifts rates
Moments after ANZ announced it would raise its rates independently of the Reserve Bank, Westpac followed suit.
On Friday, ANZ raised the interest on its standard variable rate by 0.06 per cent, marking the first independent move since the lender announced its split with the Central bank's pricing in December.
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According to a statement from the bank, intense pressure on margins forced the bank to raise its rates out of cycle with the RBA.
And the story was much the same for Westpac. Moments after ANZ's announcement, Westpac said it would lift the interest on its standard variable rate by 0.1 per cent from 20 February.
The lender also cited higher funding costs and increased pressure on margins for the interest rate hike.
Both the NAB and Commonwealth held fire on their rates after the Reserve's decision this week to leave official interest rates on hold.
In fact, last week NAB made it very clear that it would continue to boast the cheapest standard variable rate of all the majors.
NAB Broker general manager distribution John Flavell said he was committed to providing ongoing competition to the mortgage market by offering the lowest SVR.
