As the royal commission edges towards a true start date, a review of RBA and bank data by peer-to-peer lender RateSetter has revealed the extent to which bank margins - the gap between deposit rates and consumer lending rates - are widening in Australia. The analysis found that the average annual fixed personal loan rate offered by the major banks is 12.24 per cent. In contrast, savers are earning between 0.5 per cent and 2.4 per cent p.a. on savings and term deposits, resulting in average spreads of 11.52 per cent between retail deposit rates and personal loans offered by Australia's major banks. The spread between retail deposit rates and standard credit card interest rates for the same four banks is even higher, averaging 19.09 per cent, annually Bank Australia and Bendigo Bank and have been selected as the only two panel financiers for the HomesVic scheme, which will assist up to 400 low to moderate income-earning Victorians to enter the property market. Under the scheme, HomesVic will be backed by the Victorian government to provide A$50 million in funding and take a proportional beneficial interest of up to 25 per cent in each property, subject to successful applicants meeting eligibility criteria. A spokesperson for Bendigo Bank said, in regard to the HomesVic program, that while there was no (pre-set) maximum loan limit, it was very difficult to say what an approximate range would be. "The purchase price would be dependent on what the borrower is able to borrow based on eligibility criteria as well as the contribution itself," she suggested. ANZ is disbanding a collections team in its Wellington, New Zealand, office that deals largely with Australian customers and transferring the work to the Philippines. The bank said the 39 call centre workers had "provided support to the Australian collections function for almost five years," reports stuff.co.nz. ANZ said some of the workers would be offered roles elsewhere in the bank.