The silence lasted exactly a week, and ASB yesterday became the first New Zealand bank to announce a hike in its lending rates to follow the rise in the cash rate announced by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand last Thursday.The bank not only hiked its variable mortgage rate by 25 basis points to six per cent, it also increased its six- and 12-month fixed mortgage rates and some other lending rates, including tertiary loans.ASB also raised rates on some of its deposit products by 25 basis points. However, none of those deposit products were term deposits and were offering low rates of a maximum of 3.40 per cent prior to the increase.Other banks are now expected to follow ASB and hike rates, and it will be interesting to see the range of products that will see rate increases.