Sunrise host Nat Barr calls out big Aussie banks including NAB, Westpac

Sunrise host Natalie Barr has ripped into Australia’s biggest banks as the Big Four prepare to front a parliamentary inquiry into savings rates. 

Australia’s major banks are set to cop a grilling this week as chief executives appear before the House of Representatives Committee on Economics.

The CEO’s of NAB, Westpac, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank will be asked why interest rate rises are not being passed on in full to customers’ savings accounts, despite passing them on in full to mortgage holders.

While the national interest rate sits at 4.1 per cent, the ongoing rates on the major banks’ online savings accounts remains between 1.05 and 2.15 per cent. 

Finance expert Steve Mickenbecker labelled it a ‘raw deal’ for customers with Barr joining in on the pile-on. 

‘We all know we want strong banks and we do have them in this country, but is this being a bit rich?’ Barr asked Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume on Wednesday. 

‘What would you do to fix this problem?’

Sunrise host Natalie Barr has questioned if Australia’s major banks are being a ‘bit rich’ ahead of a parliamentary inquiry into interest and savings rates rises this week

The shadow finance minister said the only way interest rates could be brought back back down was by getting inflation under control. 

‘That’s why we want to make sure the government make sure that its fiscal responsibility is being met, it’s reigning in and suspending suspicions,’ she said. 

‘You’ve got to reign in your spending to do that and that way we don’t have to keep raising interest rates and punishing mortgage holders more and more.’

Ms Hume said the major banks would be held to account during the inquiry. 

‘That’s a good thing, we want to make sure that when they’ve raised those [interest] rates that it’s done so in a timely and transparent way,’ she said. 

‘They’ll have to answer to members of parliament as to why they haven’t done that.’ 

Since May 2022, Australia’s major banks have passed on repeated rate rises in full to variable mortgage customers but not to all savings accounts. 

The ongoing rates in online saver accounts have only increased by between 1.05 and 2.15 per cent in the last 14 months of repeated rate hikes. 

This means people who have an existing online savings account with the big four have missed out on up to 2.95 percentage points.

CEO of ANZ Shayne Elliott appears at the Standing Committee on Economics on Wednesday

CEO’s of NAB, Westpac, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank will be asked why interest rate rises are not being passed on in full to their customer’s savings accounts

The move has drawn outrage with financial comparison website Canstar group executive financial services Steve Mickenbecker calling it a ‘raw deal’ for customers.

‘Savers should do well in a rising-interest-rate environment, and some are, but there is a whole group getting a raw deal,’ he said.

‘Savers who have their money in a regular savings account … are setting and forgetting their way to substandard interest returns when they should be on the winning side of rate increases.’ 

Sally Tindall, the research director at RateCity.com.au, said customers of the big four shouldn’t assume they were getting each rate hike in full. 

‘While the big banks have increased some savings rates by more than the RBA hikes, which is fantastic, millions of customers with online saver accounts are on ongoing rates that are around half, if not a quarter of the current cash rate,’ she said. 

‘That’s about as far from fantastic as it can get.’

Ms Tinfall said savings accounts had been purposefully designed to catch customers out with an abundance of fine print, balance caps and introductory rates. 

‘The big four banks should consider simplifying their savings account options to make it easier to understand and navigate for all customers, instead of the survival of the fittest approach they’ve adopted thus far,’ she said. 

The chief executives of ANZ and NAB will appear before the parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday, with CBA and Westpac to follow on Thursday.