Chalmers said he had ordered the inquiry,which was first flagged last month,to “shine a light” on the retail deposit market,where the nation’s households have more than $1.3 trillion in savings.
“Australians should see the benefit of higher interest rates flow through to their savings accounts – it should be the silver lining when rates increase,” Chalmers said. “It’s a fact that banks have been a lot slower to pass on the increases in interest rates to savers than to mortgagees.”
Loading
The inquiry,due to deport by December,is expected to look at issues including the different rates paid across various types of savings accounts,and the fact new customers are often offered higher rates than existing clients.
As CBA delivered arecord half-year profit of $5.15 billion,helped in part by its vast deposit portfolio,Comyn pointed to examples of savings products where interest rates had increased since May last year to 4 per cent. These include a one-year term deposit,and accounts that pay bonus interest if customers meet certain conditions.
Comyn said the bank thought its deposits were “very competitive”,and it would provide the ACCC with any information it sought for the inquiry.