Margin rumblings at ANZ and NAB
ANZ chief executive Mike Smith says higher funding costs will eventually need to be offset by an increase in home loan rates."I still think that there is a mismatch here," Smith told media after a business lunch in Sydney yesterday, and reported by AAP."If you look at the statistics, we are paying 160 basis points more on deposits than we were pre-crisis, and with mortgages we are only up about 100 basis points. So, something has to give at some stage."Smith said ANZ had not ruled out moving on rates, even if the Reserve Bank of Australia didn't."You never say never. We have to watch the situation and we continue to do that."Meanwhile the Daily Telegraph reported that senior managers at National Australia Bank agitated for a lift in home loan margins this week after the RBA left the cash rare on hold on Tuesday.Member's of NAB's board of directors "baulked" at this option, the newspaper reported.Yesterday The Australian reported that NAB's board will debate the bank's position on home loan pricing - which leans strongly toward sticking with the status quo on margins - at its next meeting.