Interest paid on savings accounts has been falling for the past two years. While it has never been high for these at-call accounts, ever since the Global Financial Crisis and more recently the pandemic emergencies, central banks have been pushing official rates low and keeping them down with aggressive money-printing.
That surplus of funds pushed asset prices higher and interest lower.
But policy makers have started to call time on this easy-money period and interest rates have started to rise. Central bankers call it "normalisation" although rates are unlikely to go back to pre 2008 levels.
We have been tracking the average call/savings rates from banks and at one point in mid-2006 they actually reached 7.3% pa. See the chart below. Now they languish at about 0.1% pa.
These rates are very much affected by the Official Cash Rate policy rate, and are always at a discount to that. So we would expect them to rise as the OCR rises.
Recently we can see small rises starting in both term deposit offers, and now savings account offers. (Term deposits get all the press, so this article is focusing on the at-call savings accounts.)
The range of savings accounts has narrowed as institutions work to simplify their 'product' ranges. So it is easier to see the movements now.
And it is not as though savers are taking funds out of these very low returning accounts. You haver to wonder if they are not really motivated by the interest rate offers.
Here is a list of changes over the past week:
| Institution | Account name | Prior | change | New |
| % | bps | % | ||
| ANZ | Online call | 0.10 | +5 | 0.15 |
| Serious Saver | 0.30 | +15 | 0.45 | |
| PIE Call Fund | 0.10 | +5 | 0.15 | |
| ASB | FastSaver | 0.10 | +5 | 0.15 |
| PIE Cash Fund | 0.15 | +10 | 0.25 | |
| BNZ | RapidSave | 0.15 | +30 | 0.45 |
| Cooperative Bank | Step Saver | 0.35 | +15 | 0.50 |
| Heartland Bank | Direct Call | 0.50 | +15 | 0.65 |
| Notice Saver 32 days | 1.00 | +40 | 1.40 | |
| HSBC | E-Saver | 0.10 | +5 | 0.15 |
| Kiwibank | Online Call | 0.05 | +5 | 0.10 |
| Notice Saver 32 days | 0.55 | +15 | 0.70 | |
| Notice Saver 3 months | 1.25 | +25 | 1.50 | |
| Rabobank | RaboSaver | 0.50 | +15 | 0.65 |
| PremiumSaver | 1.00 | +15 | 1.15 | |
| Notice Saver 60 days | 1.15 | +15 | 1.40 | |
| TSB | WebSaver | 0.15 | +25 | 0.40 |
| PIE Cash Fund | 0.25 | +15 | 0.40 | |
| Westpac | Online Saver | 0.40 | +10 | 0.50 |
| Notice Saver 32 days | 0.50 | +15 | 0.65 |
Online call rate
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12 Comments
At a macro level, yes but it's likely that a good share of the savings balance increases have gone to existing homeowners who don't need to save for a deposit and less so to the renters who do. Like saying unemployment is at a record low so there must be little suffering occurring in the economy..
Just BS really. I recall in the 80's when interest rates on savings were 10% +. My then wife, who worked for the ASB, told me that the bank made most of it's money through over night or short term bridging loans. She told me they made some serious money doing this. I assume they still do.
Considering their behaviour and the risks they have created in, and posed for the economy I feel they should be paying depositors a lot more for their money, if only in recognition of that risk.
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