FinanceNAB, the last and still narrowly the cheapest, puts up its standard variable rates by nine basis pointsNAB, the last and still narrowly the cheapest, puts up its standard variable rates by nine basis points
The National Australia Bank has increased its standard variable home loan interest rate by 0.09% to 7.31% pa.
It's still the lowest, albeit narrowly, of the major banks, all of which have now increased their interest rates since last Tuesday’s Reserve Bank meeting. It takes effect February 20.
Lisa Gray, the group executive, says NAB has had the lowest rate of the major banks for 32 months and had committed to maintaining the lowest of the major banks through 2012.
“These decisions are never taken lightly.
“We know that current economic uncertainty is impacting on our customers, which is why last week we made the commitment to maintain the lowest SVR of any of the major banks throughout 2012.
“However, the state of the European and UK economies is having a serious impact on funding costs," she says.
“As recently as last week NAB acquired $1.5 billion of new funding on the domestic bond market at a premium that is around 70 basis points higher than the last equivalent issue just 8 months ago,” Gray says.
