Although most attention is given to mortgage floating rate hikes, savings account rates are being raised at the same time. So what are the changes for bonus savers so far?

Banks have been generally slow to pass on interest rate hikes flowing from the last two Official Cash Rate (OCR) increases, which together totaled 100 basis points.

Among the main banks, we still don't have floating rate increases for home loan borrowers from ASB, BNZ or Kiwibank.

The fixed rate increases from ANZ and Westpac have been tame.

And any term deposit rate rises have been less than the OCR change as well.

But there is one category where we are seeing full 50 basis points rises recently - bonus savings accounts. Notice Saver accounts have also attracted full increases in most cases.

For ANZ, and Westpac, holders of bonus savings accounts have got the full increase (or will have when they become effective on May 1 for ANZ, but April 17 for Westpac). But BNZ declined to raise its rates on Friday when it increased its term deposit rates.

And other banks are dragging the chain somewhat. But that doesn't necessarily mean they are uncompetitive. Kiwibank, for example, was already offering 4.75% for its 90 day Notice Saver and that remains competitive. The Co-operative Bank's Step Saver at 4.50% is also still competitive.

Here is a comparison of the recent changes and the new resulting levels.

Bonus saver accounts
as announced as at April 17, 2023		Previous	change	New rates
		%	bps	%
ANZ	Serious Saver, base	0.85	+25	1.10
	bonus	2.90	+25	3.15
	Serious Saver, with bonus	3.75	+50	4.25
ASB	Savings Plus, no bonus	2.05
	Savings Plus, partial bonus	2.15
	Savings Plus. full bonus	4.15
BNZ	Rapid Save	3.95
Kiwibank	Online Call	3.85
	30 day Notice Saver	4.05
	90 day Notice Saver	4.75
Westpac	Bonus Saver, base	0.80	+10	0.90
	bonus	2.95	+40	3.35
	Bonus Saver, with bonus	3.75	+50	4.25
	32 day Notice Saver	4.00	+50	4.50
Cooperative Bank	Step Saver, base	1.80
	bonus	2.70
	Step Saver, with bonus	4.50
Heartland Bank	Direct Call	4.10	+50	4.60
	32 day Notice Saver	4.75	+50	5.25
	90 day Notice Saver	5.15	+35	5.50
	Premium Saver, base	2.00	+25	2.25
	bonus	2.25	+25	2.50
	Premium Saver, with bonus	4.25	+50	4.75
	60 day Notice Saver	4.50	+50	5.00
SBS Bank	Incentive Saver, base	0.55
	bonus	2.60
	Incentive Saver, with bonus	3.15

We will update this comparison when more banks make their announcements.

If you read this table with the background perspective that three month term deposit rates are at 3.80% at most main banks, six month rates at 5.00% and nine month rates at 5.25%, then on that basis, bonus saver rates and notice saver rates look very attractive.