Westpac has hiked some of its fixed mortgage rates and its standard and gold Visa and Mastercard interest rates. The mortgage rate hikes include the bank's six month mortgage rate which was increased by 10 basis points (bps) to 5.49%. A number of other banks and finance companies also made interest rate changes. Westpac also raised its 18 month mortgage rate by 10 bps to 6.59%; its three year rate by 10 bps to 7.79%; and its five year rate by 9 bps to 8.69%. See and compare all mortgage rates here. Despite the Reserve Bank of New Zealand keeping the Official Cash Rate on hold last week at a record low of 2.5%, fixed mortgage rates have been rising steadily over recent weeks, with the latest round of hikes including six-month rates. Deposit rates are also on the way up as competition heats up between banks to secure more local funding and for longer terms. This follows a directive from the Reserve Bank mid-way through the year in which it set new prudential liquidity guidelines for the banks. This was done in an effort to wean the banks off 'hot' short term money sourced from global wholesale markets, which dried up during the global credit crisis in the latter part of 2008. Meanwhile, Westpac also hiked its Visa and Mastercard rates for standard and gold cards by 50 bps to 19.95%. See all credit card rates here. In other interest rate changes on Monday morning, BNZ raised its 18 month term deposit rate by 15 bps to 5.25%, while Kiwibank cut its one year rate by 35 bps to 4.75%. BNZ also raised its five year term deposit rate by 25 bps to 6.75%, matching a similar move by ANZ National last week. See all term deposit rates here for terms less than one year, and here for terms one year and over. ANZ cut its Cash PIE call fund rate by 65 bps to 2.5%. At the same time it raised its one year Cash Pie term fund rate by 50 bps to 5%. Kiwibank cut its one year term fund rate by 35 bps to 4.75%. See Cash PIE rates here. Marac increased its call account rates by 50 bps. For deposits between NZ$1,000 and NZ$50,000 it increased its rate to 4.25%, while for deposits over NZ$50,000 the rate is now 4.75%. See call account rates here.
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