Deposit rates hit hard
A number of authorised deposit-taking institutions have cashed in on last month's cash rate reduction by cutting their savings account rates by a greater margin than their variable mortgage interest rate cuts.According to the latest Mozo Banking Roundup, 19 authorised deposit-taking institutions looked to boost their margins by hitting depositors hard.Among the big banks, ANZ cut its variable home loan rate by 19 basis points and cut its Online Saver rate by 25 bps. Commonwealth Bank cut its variable home loan rate by 25 bps and cut its NetBank Saver rate by 30 bps. CBA was not the only deposit-taker to cut savings account rates by 30 bps over the past month. Others included G&C Mutual Bank, Illawarra Credit Union, and QPCU.The institution with the most striking disparity in rate movements was ME, which cut its variable home loan rate by five bps and cuts its Online Savings Account rate by 25 bps.G&C Mutual Bank wasn't far behind, cutting its variable home loan rate by 12 bps and its savings account rate by 30 bps.Bonus rates came in for some heavy treatment. ING Direct cut the bonus rate on Savings Maximiser by 50 bps, G&C Mutual Bank cut the bonus rate on its Bonus Saver account by 44 bps and Illawarra Credit Union cut the bonus rate on its Saver account by 40 bps. Commonwealth Bank cut its GoalSaver bonus rate by 35 bps.Some institutions were kinder to their depositors. Citibank cut its variable home loan ate by 21 bps but only cut its Online Saver rate by 15 bps.