St George cuts interest rates

ST GEORGE has cut its standard variable rate by 62bp, making it the last of the big banks to move after the RBA's cut on Tuesday.

St George cuts interest rates

ST GEORGE Bank has cut its standard variable mortgage interest rate by 62 basis points.

The rate will fall to 7.74 per cent, from November 14.

The move follows the decision by the Reserve Bank on Tuesday to lower the official cash rate by 75 basis points to 5.25 per cent.

None of the major banks have passed on the full amount of the RBA cut, blaming high funding costs in wholesale markets.

"Due to the continued impacts of the global financial crisis, financial institutions are facing significantly higher costs in both the short and long term wholesale funding markets," St George head of retail banking Les Matheson said.

"These much higher funding costs overall mean that we are unable to pass on the full RBA decrease of 0.75 per cent.

"However, over the last nine weeks and including today's reduction our rates have come down by a total of 1.93 per cent."

St George said its rate reduction equates to a saving of about $118 per month in repayments on an average size loan of $250,000 over a 30 year term.

St George today also cut its fixed home loan interest rates.

From November 10, its fixed rates will fall by up to 25 basis points.

Commonwealth Bank cut its variable rate by 58 basis points on Tuesday after the RBA cut.

Westpac, ANZ and NAB all moved yesterday, cutting their standard variable mortgage rate by 0.65 per cent, 0.58 per cent and 0.62 per cent respectively.

AMP Banking passed on the full 75 basis point reduction to borrowers.