Lower interest rates are helping borrowers in arrears catch up on their loans. Fitch Ratings said yesterday that arrears of 90 days or more had improved by eight basis points, to 0.55 per cent, at December 2012, the lowest level since December 2010. Longer-term arrears decreased as the interest rate was cut, while more properties in possession were sold. Fitch said delinquencies of 30 days or more on prime loans increased by six basis points, to 1.46 per cent, mainly driven by a 20 bps increase in 30-day to 59-day arrears. Fitch said "there was no specific cause for the increase in arrears" in this latter group. The Australian Government has granted Financial and Energy Exchange Global a licence to operate a new derivatives market. The Government also granted London-based LCH Clearnet a licence allowing it to clear and settle contracts traded on the FEX market. The Liberal and National coalition is considering tipping as much as A$4 billion into the Reserve Bank of Australia's emergency "reserve fund", the Financial Review reports. Commenting on this, the Reserve Bank's official historian, Australian National University professor Selwyn Cornish, told the newspaper: "I am not aware of the government having to inject any capital into the RBA since the early days of it being established."