Monitor reveals bank responses to interest rate cut

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) has today released the November Agribusiness Loan Monitor, which shows that four financial institutions have reduced their agribusiness loans off the back of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decision to cut interest rates earlier this month. Suncorp Agribusiness, Commonwealth Bank Agribusiness, ANZ Agribusiness and NAB Agribusiness have each reduced their term loan rates by between 0.20 percent and 0.25 percent in response to the official RBA reduction of 0.25 percent. “The NFF Agribusiness Loan Monitor is designed to compare and contrast the agribusiness loan rates of the major banks and other financial institutions to help farmers and rural businesses get a clear understanding of loan and interest rates,” said NFF Economics Committee Chair John McKillop. “In the past, it has been very difficult for farmers to access this kind of information, which is why we developed the Monitor – to make the market more transparent. “Since the Monitor’s introduction in June, it has shown that interest rates have remained steady, mirroring the stability of the official cash rate. “But now, with the RBA reducing interest rates to 4.5 percent, the Monitor shows us which banks have responded with reductions in their financial products. “We hope that this information will allow farmers to compare products on the market and make informed decisions about banking products, loan rates and portability options should they decide to switch banks,” Mr McKillop said. Key results from the November Monitor show that the Commonwealth Bank Agribusiness and Suncorp Agribusiness have both dropped their term loan rates by 0.25 percent, while ANZ Agribusiness has reduced its business loan variable rate by 0.23 percent and NAB Agribusiness by 0.20 percent. In overdrafts, Suncorp Agribusiness has reduced its rate down by 1.64 percent, while the Commonwealth Bank has made a reduction of 0.25 percent. The NFF Agribusiness Loan Monitor for November is available http://www.nff.org.au/publications.html#cat_2119[here]. The NFF provides this valuable tool to all Australian farmers in partnership with Canstar Cannex.