>
Karl Stefanovic blasts bank boss over skyrocketing interest rates as Aussies see their mortgage payments double while lenders hoard billions: ‘Forgive me for not celebrating’
Karl Stefanovic questioned the chief executive of the Australian Banking Association as Australians struggle to keep up with rising interest rates.
The RBA’s quarter-point increase on Tuesday pushed the cash rate to a new 10-year high of 3.35 percent, with Gov. Philip Lowe signaling further hikes in the coming months.
ANZ and NAB have already announced they would pass the interest rate hike, and other major banks are expected to follow.
Speaking to ABA director Anna Bligh on Thursday morning, Stefanovic questioned whether banks were making a profit “by manipulating the pace of cuts and hikes.”
Karl Stefanovic questioned Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh as Australians struggle to keep up with rising interest rates.
Ms Bligh said Australia’s banks would make a “healthy profit” but argued it would benefit Australians.
‘That’s a good thing for the country. Your earnings go into your retirement fund and the retirement funds of hundreds of thousands of Australians,’ he said on the Today Show.
“I don’t think Australia wants an economy with failing banks.”
Stefanovic then sadly replied: “Forgive me for not celebrating.”
The breakfast show host had previously said Australians had yet to see any major banks give families “a break” when it came to interest rates.
Stefanovic then asked Ms Bligh if big banks passing the increases would help push the country into recession.
“That’s something that the Reserve Bank is really looking at and taking into account every time it meets,” he replied.
“The minutes of their meetings tell us that they are well aware that they don’t want to go too far, but they will continue to do whatever it takes to reduce inflation.”
Ms Bligh urged Australians to talk to their banks and ‘shop around’ if they felt the effects of rising interest rates.
But Stefanovic hit back, saying banks were raising rates twice as fast as they were cutting them, and that they were “quick to raise and slow to slice.”
The breakfast show host then asked why the higher rates hadn’t been passed on to those with savings accounts, when they had been passed on to mortgage holders.
Ms Bligh said banks had raised rates on savings accounts from 0.3 per cent at this time last year to 4 per cent.
When asked who was getting that 4 per cent, Ms Bligh said all the major banks had that rate on time deposits.
He said the rate varied between different types of savings accounts and urged Australians to “buy”.
“But comparing the same product from this time last year to this year, I would say that self-funded retirees and people who finance their lives with those savings are getting a much better deal after 10 very difficult years in which they were doing so.” difficult while mortgage holders were getting very, very cheap money,’ he said.
‘I want people to understand. Talk to your bank if you have problems.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet unleashed major banks yesterday for being so quick to pass interest rate hikes but slow to cut them during the Covid pandemic.
“I think they should take care of families in a difficult economic time,” he told the Today Show on Wednesday.
‘We are going through challenges, the budgets of families throughout our state are under pressure. We are in NSW looking after our families with cost of living relief and I call on banks to look after their customers and families in NSW.”