NAB passes baton on savings rates
National Australia Bank may be allowing the momentum to slow on deposit inflows into its UBank brand, with the bank so far content to leave its interest rate unchanged on its previously market-leading at-call account. The rate remains at 5.85 per cent, though anyone with a regular savings plan will earn 5.95 per cent.Most deposit-takers with products in the high-yield segment have lifted the interest rate on their deposit products by 25 basis points and in line with the rise in the cash rate steered through by the Reserve Bank of Australia last week. This includes NAB on its iSaver account, which increased by 35 basis points according to GBST, a new supplier of comparative data on retail bank products.Bonus rates and "specials" tend to complicate comparison on higher-yielding deposit accounts, but UBank is now offering only the same rate as BankWest, Commonwealth, ING Direct and Westpac.AMP, through a special offer, is offering 6.0 per cent on its easySaver product. A rate of more than six per cent is available from Citibank in some circumstances.It's less than a month since NAB refreshed the UBank offer (though valid only until the end of March) under which the bank undertook to match the promotional and introductory interest rates of four rival banks across seven deposit products.Asked about its approach to UBank's product pricing this week, a NAB spokesperson wrote in an email that "deposit rates continue to be driven by the value banks place on them in light of their funding needs, rather than the RBA cash rate."They went on to write that "whilst rate remains very important to our customers, product functionality, service and ease of application remains critical."UBank also shaved 10 basis points off its six-month term deposit over the last week.On the lending side the 25 bps RBA move is the pricing benchmark followed by most lenders on most products.One lender that broke from the pack was ING Direct, which lifted its standard variable home loan rate by 25 basis points.