Smith set for Wigan debut

Smith set for Wigan debut	11.07.2008

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07/11/2008		Cooper`s chance to shine
YOUNG gun Quade Cooper has the chance to stamp himself as a bona fide Australia playmaking back-up when Queensland take on the Alan Jones-coached Barbarians

07/11/2008		Retiring Croft wins Pilecki Medal
RETIRING Queensland flanker David Croft was awarded the Stan Pilecki Medal as the Reds best player for the second year in a row

07/11/2008		McLaren to pay costs to Ferrari
THE McLaren team has settled its disputes with Ferrari and agreed to pay the Italian team`s court costs from the Formula spy scandal

07/11/2008		Fraser to return through VFL
COLLINGWOOD will ease back No.1 ruckman Josh Fraser through their VFL team as they try to have him ready for the build up to the AFL finals

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Latest Comments:

Comment 32you are right about the fact that our banks are able to do what they want as a result of deregulation of banking. This was done by Keating so he could blame the banks for his mismanaging the economy. As far as somelender is prepared to lend you 150% when bank refused, I have a news for you, THAT LENDER IS A BANK. It does not matter what name is on the contract, the bank or its subsidiary is behind it.
Posted by: Martin of York 10:09am today

People!We are a country that enjoys credit a little too much, with such a large amount of money being placed in credit cards and HP accounts the RBA will continue to increase interest rates giving the Commercial Banks an excuse to increase theirs as part of the cover up to hide their loses and exposure that they have put themselves in with teh US sub-prime issue... in large part we have only ourselves to blame!
Posted by: Anthony of Gold Coast 10:08am today

Maybe what we need to do is to open the doors of the RBA to the public thus allowing them to borrow at a much lower rate which in turn will allow many working Australians to keep the roof over their heads so to speak. To stop everyone moving to the RBA it could be limited to only offer a mortgage for the house you live in. It's a win win, the hard working tax payer gets a roof over their heads and the RBA still makes a good profit.
Posted by: Sol Rosenberg of Qld 10:08am today

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Fears banks will lift rates by more than official rise
PM Kevin Rudd warns he`s talking to ACCC
Big Bang coming from banks

ALL eyes are on Australia`s banks, with predictions they will lift home loan rates by more than yesterday`s official increase.

The big banks are again considered likely to lift variable home-loan rates by more than yesterday`s 25 basis point increase in official interest rates.

Ahead of yesterday`s hike in the Reserve Bank`s (RBA) cash rate to 7.25 per cent, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned banks not to lift variable home-lending rates - now around 8.95 per cent - by more than the anticipated 25 basis points.

Sharing the profits

Asked what he would do if that occurred, Mr Rudd said the Government was discussing what other measures were possible with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

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"Banks experiencing record profitability should be very, very mindful of their corporate and community standing before leaning on people who borrow from those banks any further," he said.

So far this year, the big banks have added a further 15 to 20 basis points to RBA increases to rebuild their margins. Fixed home-loan rates have also been rising.

However, as the Big Four put their rates under review yesterday, a senior banker said the industry was between a rock and a hard place, absorbing an annualised $1.4 billion earnings hit from higher funding costs while facing a political backlash if some of that cost was passed on to borrowers.

The banker said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd`s threat to unleash the competition watchdog to examine anti-competitive conduct had complicated the response to the 12th consecutive rate rise since 2002.

"If you push a new government too hard, you could end up in the same basket as the petrol companies, with the ACCC looking at every pricing move," the banker said.

Mortgage rates near 10 per cent

Rates ABN AMRO analyst Jarrod Martin predicted that the banks, "if they were true to their word, would pass on the 25-basis-point RBA increase, as well as an extra 10 to 15 basis points", which would push standard variable home loan rates close to 10 per cent.

"The funding market has deteriorated since they last went outside RBA increases, but they could play a bit of a waiting game to see where the market settles," he said.

None of the banks would publicly canvass the likelihood of adding a margin to the RBA adjustment.

An ANZ spokesman said a decision was likely later in the week. "It`s inevitable there`ll be some flow-on to mortgage and other lending rates, and we have the added consideration of the ongoing pressures in wholesale markets which have raised funding costs further," he said.

Westpac and Commonwealth Bank rates are under review.

NAB CEO John Stewart said last week that further unilateral rate rises could not be ruled out.

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