ACTU: Reserve Bank rates cut

01 May, 2012 | ACTU Media ReleaseAustralia’s big four banks must pass on any official Reserve Bank move to cut interest rates today. 

ACTU President Ged Kearney said the case for a cut to the official cash rate was irresistible, and banks could not justify ignoring the official decision in favour of their own self-interest.

“The Reserve Bank should have moved earlier to cut interest rates,” Ms Kearney said.

“Its stance has contributed to uncertainty for Australian industry and workers and their families, and is partly to blame for the high value of the dollar.

“The Reserve should  cut rates today by a full half a per cent, and the big banks have to follow.

“It is worrying that in recent months we have seen the big four banks choose to lift rates despite the Reserve Bank keeping them on hold.

“Australian families shouldn’t be forced to pay the price of the big banks fattening their margins to chase huge profits.

“Complaints by the banks of higher borrowing costs than a year ago are unlikely to reach sympathetic ears as long as they keep engineering their enormous profits.

“The big four banks last year recorded a combined $25.2 billion, while the combined salaries of the four major banks’ CEOs totaled $28.6 million. At the same time, Westpac and ANZ are slashing jobs.

“And ANZ has blatantly laughed in the face of the workers who prop up its profits with their mortgages, lifting rates twice in the past two months, despite the Reserve Bank holding the rates steady. The other three big banks have also lifted their rates once in the past two months.”