The savers’ share
Did the banks keep the 2026 rises from savers? Not most of them, on average, on the Reserve Bank’s own tables: what households were paid on deposits rose about as much as what owner-occupiers were charged on variable loans. But advertise…
The cash rate rose three times before today: 3.60 per cent to 4.35 per cent, effective 4 February, 18 March and 6 May 2026. On 29 September the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Board raised it a fourth time, by 25 basis points to 4.60 per cent, unanimously 12.
This article asks one narrow question: did the banks keep those rises from savers? The Reserve Bank publishes both sides of the ledger, what banks pay on deposits and what they charge on loans, in its Tables F4, F4.1, F5 and F6, published on 7 September 2026. On those tables, the banks did not keep most of those rises from savers, on average: the average rate paid on all outstanding household deposits rose from 2.8 per cent to 3.5 per cent between December 2025 and July 2026, and the average rate charged on outstanding owner-occupier variable loans rose from 5.5 per cent to 6.2 per cent: 0.7 points each 34.
The average is not the whole answer. In every month from November 2025 to August 2026, the advertised rate on a bank transaction account ($5,000) was 0.00 per cent, while every advertised bank variable housing rate rose exactly 0.75 points, in the months of the three rises 56. What follows sets out both findings, the conditions attached to the savers who did keep pace, the first moves on the fourth rise, and what the Reserve Bank itself says about how banks earn on deposits.
The tables run to July (deposits and loans) and August (advertised rates) 2026, so none of them includes today’s rise 3456.
01What was paid and what was charged
Table F4.1 gives the weighted-average rate paid on all outstanding deposits. It rose from 3.0 per cent in December 2025 to 3.6 per cent in July 2026, a rise of 0.6 points: about 80 per cent of the 0.75 points the cash rate rose over the same period. The table is published to one decimal place, so the true change lies between about 0.5 and 0.7 points, or 67 to 93 per cent 3. The percentages are THE RORT’s calculation from the table.
For households alone, the average rate paid on all outstanding deposits rose from 2.8 per cent to 3.5 per cent, a rise of 0.7 points, about 93 per cent of the cash rate’s rise; allowing for rounding the range is roughly 80 to 107 per cent. On household at-call balances the rate rose from 2.5 per cent to 3.2 per cent 3.
Table F6 gives the average rate charged on outstanding owner-occupier variable loans. It rose from 5.5 per cent in December 2025 to 6.2 per cent in July 2026: also 0.7 points 4. Set the two side by side. In December, 5.5 minus 2.8 is 2.7 points. In July, 6.2 minus 3.5 is 2.7 points. Against all deposits, not households alone, the gap was 2.5 points in December and 2.6 in July (THE RORT’s calculation from Tables F4.1 and F6) 4. That 0.1-point change is within the rounding. At the one-decimal precision published, the gap between what owner-occupiers on variable loans were charged and what households were paid did not measurably widen over the rises 4.
That is not a bank margin. It compares one kind of loan with deposits, and a change of up to about 0.1 to 0.2 points could be hidden by the rounding 4.
The Reserve Bank’s own words point the same way, with a qualification. Its August 2026 Statement on Monetary Policy reads: “Banks have passed on the three cash rate increases to deposit and lending rates.” It adds that variable mortgage rates “increased by nearly 75 basis points between January and June” 7. Its May 2026 Bulletin reads: “Deposit costs declined by less than the decline in the cash rate over 2025 and rose by less than the cash rate as it was increased in early 2026” 8. On the paid rates in Table F4.1 to July, “by less” now has a size: about 80 per cent of the cash rate’s rise for all deposits, and about 93 per cent for households (roughly 80 to 107 per cent allowing for rounding), at the one-decimal precision published 3.
The tables do not support a claim that the banks kept most of the 2026 rises on deposits. The narrower charge, in the next section, is the one they do support.
02The savers who got little or none
An average hides the spread between products. Table F4 lists advertised rates product by product. An advertised bank transaction account ($5,000) paid 0.00 per cent in every month from November 2025 to August 2026 5. Bank cash management accounts rose only 0.30 points: $10,000 from 0.25 per cent to 0.55 per cent, and $50,000 from 0.40 per cent to 0.70 per cent, about 40 per cent of the cash rate’s rise. One-month term deposits rose 0.20 points, from 1.20 per cent to 1.40 per cent, about 27 per cent. Three-month term deposits rose 0.45 points, from 2.85 per cent to 3.30 per cent, 60 per cent 5. The percentages are THE RORT’s calculation from the table.
The tables THE RORT read do not publish the balances held in each product, so how many savers sit in each of these accounts is unknown 5. The ACCC’s 2023 deposits inquiry found that four major banks and six mid-tier banks supply 89 per cent of retail deposits 9.
On THE RORT’s reading of the tables, this is the supportable charge: savers in transaction accounts, and in cash management accounts and short term deposits, got little or none of the rise, while every advertised variable housing rate rose the full amount in the same months 56. It is a charge about products, not about the average. Some borrowers also hold an offset account; over five years, loans with one rose from about 40 per cent to 55 per cent of housing facilities 8. The tables do not publish balances by product, so what share of any product sits in offsets is unknown 5.
03The savers who kept pace, on conditions
Other advertised rates rose by as much as the cash rate or more. Bonus saver accounts rose from 4.00 per cent to 4.80 per cent, 0.80 points, 107 per cent of the cash rate’s rise, but only if a deposit is made and nothing is withdrawn each month. The Reserve Bank’s own table note says bonus accounts “pay a higher rate of interest if at least one deposit and no withdrawals are made each month”, and the series is “an average of the five largest banks’ rates assuming these requirements are met” 5.
How often those conditions are met matters. The ACCC found that 71 per cent of bonus interest accounts did not receive the bonus interest rate in an average month over the first six months of 2023 9. That figure is for 2023; it does not show how often the conditions were met in 2026.
Online savers rose from 2.30 per cent to 3.10 per cent, also 0.80 points; the series is prominent providers, not the big four only. Six-month term deposits rose 0.75 points, a full move only by June. One-year term deposits rose 1.20 points, from 3.75 per cent to 4.95 per cent, and three-year term deposits 1.25 points, from 2.95 per cent to 4.20 per cent; both partly price expected rises, and both are off their May and June peaks (the one-year rate was 5.05 per cent, then 4.95 per cent in August). The average across all term deposit terms at the five largest banks rose 0.65 points, from 2.90 per cent to 3.55 per cent, 87 per cent of the cash rate’s rise 5.
Newly written term deposits outran the cash rate. The rate on all new term deposits rose 0.8 points, from 3.8 per cent to 4.6 per cent, and on households’ new term deposits 1.1 points, from 3.7 per cent to 4.8 per cent. Fixed-term rates price expected rises too 3.
A saver who moved to a bonus or online account, or locked in a one-year term deposit, kept pace with the cash rate only on those conditions and that timing 5.
04Borrowers: the full advertised rise, in the month
Table F5 lists advertised lending rates. Every advertised bank variable housing rate in it rose exactly 0.75 points, in the months of the three rises: 25 basis points each in February, March and May. The standard owner-occupier rate went from 8.02 per cent to 8.77 per cent. The discounted rate, which is a rate for professional packages and not a rate for new loans, went from 6.05 per cent to 6.80 per cent. Investor and interest-only rates rose likewise 6.
Small business variable rates also rose 0.75 points, from 8.25 per cent to 9.00 per cent, and from 10.01 per cent to 10.76 per cent. Advertised credit card rates did not move: 20.99 per cent and 13.49 per cent in every month from November 2025 to August 2026 6.
The average rate actually charged on outstanding owner-occupier variable loans rose 0.7 points, as the first section showed, to one decimal place 4.
Advertised fixed mortgage rates rose before the first 2026 rise. The three-year fixed owner-occupier rate went from 5.56 per cent in November 2025 to 5.77 per cent in December, 5.99 per cent in January, and 6.74 per cent by June to August: 0.97 points up from December. The investor three-year fixed rate rose 0.88 points 6.
The Reserve Bank’s February 2026 Statement on Monetary Policy says that less than 5 per cent of new and outstanding mortgages are on fixed-rate terms 10. Its May 2026 Statement says: “Cash rate increases can take up to three months to flow through to minimum required variable-rate mortgage payments” 11.
05The first moves on the fourth rise
The Reserve Bank announced today’s rise at 2.30 pm on 29 September, effective 30 September 12. When THE RORT last checked, at 4.46 pm, Macquarie had published its new savings rates and its home loan change, UBank’s savings changes had been reported, and the four major banks had announced none 121517.
Macquarie’s own help page says: “Macquarie is increasing its variable home loan reference rates by 0.25% per annum, effective 15 October 2026.” The page does not split owner-occupier and investor loans 12. The same page gives new ongoing variable rates for its savings accounts, by balance: 5.25 per cent up to $250,000, 5.05 per cent from $250,000.01 to $2,000,000, and 4.60 per cent above $2,000,000 12. Its savings account page, still showing the old rates, lists them as 5.00 per cent, 5.00 per cent and 2.75 per cent 13. By THE RORT’s difference between the two pages, that is a rise of 25 basis points up to $250,000, 5 basis points from $250,000.01 to $2,000,000, and 185 basis points above $2,000,000. A Macquarie saver with a balance from $250,000.01 to $2,000,000 gets 5 basis points, against the 25 basis points borrowers get on the home loan reference rates 1213.
The page also says: “we will also be increasing the interest rates available across our Transaction, Savings, Business Savings and Cash Management accounts effective 15 October 2026.” It lists a Transaction Account rate of 3.00 per cent on all tiers, and rises to its Business Savings and Cash Management accounts; THE RORT has not verified the size of those changes. Its welcome rate of 5.60 per cent up to $250,000 is “no longer available to savings accounts opened after 11:59pm AEST Monday 14 September 2026”; THE RORT has not verified the size of any change to it. The page shows no term deposit change 12.
Macquarie’s own release of 3 February said the bank would “increase variable interest rates paid on its transaction and savings accounts by 0.25% p.a. from 20 February 2026” 14. That is one bank, not the system 8.
UBank’s own page was not read by THE RORT. Savings.com.au reports that UBank’s Save account welcome bonus rate rises to 6.10 per cent, “up 25 basis points from 5.85% p.a.”, and its ongoing Save rate with bonus, up to $1 million, to 5.35 per cent, “up 25 basis points from 5.10% p.a.”, both effective 6 October 2026 15. Finder’s tracker describes the 5.85 per cent as an introductory rate for four months 16.
THE RORT re-checked the four major banks’ own pages between 4.44 pm and 4.46 pm AEST on 29 September. None had announced a change to variable home loan, savings or term deposit rates. CBA’s savings page said: “we’re currently reviewing the interest rates for savings products”; its home loan page still showed 5 May 2026. Westpac said its interest rates were “currently under review”. ANZ said it was “reviewing its home loan and residential investment loan interest rates”. NAB’s home loan page still showed 3 February 2026 17. The test of borrowers against savers for the big four is still open.
06How banks earn on deposits, in the Reserve Bank’s words
A deposit that pays a saver little or nothing is not necessarily a deposit that earns the bank little. The Reserve Bank’s April 2024 Bulletin describes how banks hedge near-zero-rate deposits: “This ‘replicating portfolio’ of a rolling portfolio of receive-fixed, pay-floating interest rate swaps makes the effective interest rate associated with these deposits move with short-term market interest rates.” The banks’ earnings on those deposits therefore rise with market rates 18.
The same Bulletin says the mechanism smooths bank margins: “changes in the cash rate have a relatively small effect on NIMs”, the net interest margins 18. THE RORT’s reading of the Bulletin is that the mechanism limits the size and speed of any windfall to banks from a rate rise; it does not show that there is none 18.
On the charge side, KPMG said the major banks’ net interest income rose 5.9 per cent to $78.8 billion in FY25 “primarily due to higher earnings on capital and deposits replicating portfolios”, partly offset by competition 23.
This article does not examine any bank’s own results.
07History: 2022-23 and 2025
The pattern is not new. In the 2022-23 cycle the cash rate rose 4.25 points, from 0.10 per cent to 4.35 per cent 1. On average, neither borrowers nor savers got the full 425 basis points. The average interest rate on total deposits excluding offset accounts rose 325 basis points, “around 75 per cent of the total increase in the cash rate”; at-call deposit rates rose about 275 basis points and new term deposit rates about 435 basis points 19. The average outstanding variable rate rose about 70 basis points less than the cash rate between May 2022 and September 2023, and new variable rates 40 basis points less 19. The major banks’ spread between lending rates and funding costs declined 60 basis points, to around 190 basis points; their NIMs “increased modestly in 2022” and “have more recently declined below their pre-pandemic level” 19.
Pass-through to average at-call deposit rates is typically less than 100 per cent because some deposit accounts have interest rates that do not move with the cash rate.
In the three 2025 cuts, to 3.60 per cent 1, the major banks’ funding costs fell about 90 basis points from late 2024. At-call deposit rates fell about 50 basis points and new term deposit rates about 75 basis points, while lending rates fell in line with the cash rate 20.
08The other side
Higher rates do more than cost borrowers. Assistant Governor Christopher Kent, in October 2023, listed five transmission channels and said of the cash-flow channel: “Because the cash-flow channel is so noticeable, and felt so keenly by borrowers, it gets a lot of attention” 21.
When interest rates go up, households pay more on their debt and earn more on their savings.
Outright owners, about a third of households, gain income when rates rise. The Reserve Bank’s January 2025 Bulletin, which predates the 2026 rises, estimated that the median outright owner’s gain is only about one-third of the median mortgagor’s loss, and that many older households, who own outright or owe little and hold large deposit savings, “typically benefit from higher interest rates” 22.
The tables themselves carry the rest of the other side. On average, household deposit rates rose 0.7 points, about as much as owner-occupier variable loan rates 34. Bonus and online savers, and savers who locked in one-year term deposits, kept pace or better, on conditions and timing 5. The Bulletin of May 2026 says the spread between banks’ lending rates and funding costs “has increased since early 2025 but remains well below its pre-pandemic levels”, and that margins “stabilised in 2025 around historical lows” 8. The replicating portfolio smooths margins 18. The one-decimal rounding cuts both ways: a change of up to about 0.1 to 0.2 points in the gap could be hidden 4.
Three things remain open. How much money sits in each deposit product is not published 5. What the big four will pay savers, and from when, was not announced by 4.46 pm on 29 September 17. And none of the tables yet includes the September rise; later releases of Tables F4, F4.1, F5 and F6 will show it. If Macquarie, any of the four major banks or the Australian Banking Association wants to reply to anything in this article, write to corrections@therort.com.au; any reply will be added as a dated update.
If it’s a rort, we cover it.
- Review: one year after publicationThe authored watch rows suppress this article's yearly review cadence; this row replaces it.
Read the desk note
REVIEW 29 September 2027 (case: THE INFLATION RORT). Re-read this article against the record a year on: every figure taken from the Reserve Bank's Tables F4, F4.1, F5 and F6, the Macquarie and UBank rates, and every claim about the big four that was pending on 29 September 2026. NEXT DATE: none set.
- Watch: Macquarie's rate changes take effectMacquarie's variable home loan reference rates rise 0.25 points and its savings tiers rise 0.25, 0.05 and 1.85 points from this date.
Read the desk note
WATCH 15 October 2026 (case: THE INFLATION RORT). Macquarie's own page says its variable home loan reference rates rise 0.25 per cent a year from 15 October 2026, and its new ongoing savings rates, by balance, are 5.25 per cent up to $250,000 (from 5.00), 5.05 per cent from $250,000.01 to $2,000,000 (from 5.00) and 4.60 per cent above $2,000,000 (from 2.75): rises of 25, 5 and 185 basis points. Check the big four's announced dates and any savings and term deposit changes they have made since 4.46 pm on 29 September. None of the tables yet includes the September rise; later releases of Tables F4, F4.1, F5 and F6 will show it. NEXT DATE: none dated for this article.
- Record: article 14 published, 29 September 2026Published the day the Reserve Bank raised the cash rate to 4.60 per cent: what the 2026 rises paid savers and charged borrowers, on the Bank's own tables.
Read the desk note
PUBLISHED 29 September 2026 (case: THE INFLATION RORT, article 14).
FINDING. On the Reserve Bank's own tables, the average rate paid on household deposits rose 0.7 points from December 2025 to July 2026 (2.8 to 3.5 per cent), the same as the average rate charged on outstanding owner-occupier variable loans (5.5 to 6.2 per cent), at one-decimal precision. But advertised transaction accounts ($5,000) paid 0.00 per cent in every month from November 2025 to August 2026, bank cash management accounts rose 0.30 points and one-month term deposits 0.20, while every advertised bank variable housing rate rose 0.75 points in the months of the three rises. Macquarie's own pages show its savings rate for balances from $250,000.01 to $2,000,000 going from 5.00 to 5.05 per cent (5 basis points, THE RORT's difference) against 25 basis points on its variable home loan reference rates, from 15 October 2026.
STILL OPEN. The big four's home loan, savings and term deposit decisions (none announced by 4.46 pm on 29 September); how much money sits in each deposit product (not published); and whether Macquarie, the big four or the Australian Banking Association respond.
NEXT DATE: 15 October 2026, Macquarie's rate changes take effect.
- Reserve Bank of Australia: cash rate target history. https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/cash-rate/. Fetched 29 September 2026, 14:37 AEST. Rows: 19 Feb 2025 -0.25 to 4.10; 21 May 2025 -0.25 to 3.85; 13 Aug 2025 -0.25 to 3.60; 4 Feb 2026 +0.25 to 3.85; 18 Mar 2026 +0.25 to 4.10; 6 May 2026 +0.25 to 4.35; 12 Aug 2026 0.00 4.35; 30 Sep 2026 +0.25 to 4.60. The table lists effective dates, with any change taking effect the day after the decision. The 2022-23 cycle: 0.10 to 4.35 through 13 rises, effective 4 May 2022 to 8 November 2023.
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Media Release 2026-27, 29 September 2026, 14:30 AEST. https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2026/mr-26-27.html. “At its meeting today, the Board decided to increase the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.60 per cent.” “Today’s policy decision was unanimous.”
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Table F4.1, Paid deposit rates, published 7 September 2026. https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/tables/csv/f4.1-data.csv. Weighted-average rate paid on all outstanding deposits (PDROT): 3.0 (31 December 2025) to 3.6 (31 July 2026). Households, outstanding (PDROH): 2.8 to 3.5; households, outstanding at-call (PDROAH): 2.5 to 3.2. All new term deposits (PDRNTT): 3.8 to 4.6; households’ new term deposits (PDRNTH): 3.7 to 4.8. The table is to one decimal place. The ratios and percentages are THE RORT’s calculation.
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Table F6, Housing lending rates, published 7 September 2026. https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/tables/csv/f6-data.csv. Outstanding, owner-occupied, variable-rate, all institutions (FLRHOOVA): 5.5 (31 December 2025) to 6.2 (31 July 2026). THE RORT’s differences with Table F4.1: December 2025, 5.5 minus 2.8 is 2.7 points; July 2026, 6.2 minus 3.5 is 2.7 points; against all deposits, 2.5 then 2.6. This compares one loan type with deposits and is not a bank margin; a change of up to about 0.1 to 0.2 points could be hidden by rounding.
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Table F4, Retail deposit and investment rates, published 7 September 2026. https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/tables/csv/f4-data.csv. Transaction account, $5,000 (FRDIRTAB5K): 0.00 in every month November 2025 to August 2026. Cash management, $10,000 (FRDIRSAC10K): 0.25 to 0.55; $50,000 (FRDIRSAC50K): 0.40 to 0.70. One-month term deposit (FRDIRBTD10K1M): 1.20 to 1.40; three-month (FRDIRBTD10K3M): 2.85 to 3.30; one-year (FRDIRBTD10K1Y): 3.75 to 4.95; three-year: 2.95 to 4.20. Bonus saver (FRDIRSAB10K): 4.00 (December 2025) to 4.80 (August 2026). Average, all term deposit terms, five largest banks (FRDIRBTD10KAR): 2.90 to 3.55. Table note: bonus accounts “pay a higher rate of interest if at least one deposit and no withdrawals are made each month”; the series is “an average of the five largest banks’ rates assuming these requirements are met”. Balances held in each product are not published. The ratios are THE RORT’s calculation.
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Table F5, Indicator lending rates, published 7 September 2026. https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/tables/csv/f5-data.csv. Standard variable owner-occupier (FILRHLBVS): 8.02 (31 December 2025) to 8.77 (31 August 2026); discounted, a professional-package rate (FILRHLBVD): 6.05 to 6.80; small business variable (FILRSBVRT and FILRSBVOO): 8.25 to 9.00 and 10.01 to 10.76; credit cards (FILRPLRCCS and FILRPLRCCL): 20.99 and 13.49 in every month November 2025 to August 2026. Three-year fixed owner-occupier (FILRHL3YF): 5.56 (30 November 2025), 5.77 (December), 5.99 (January), 6.24 (February), 6.39 (March), 6.73 (April, May), 6.74 (June to August).
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Statement on Monetary Policy, August 2026, Financial conditions. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2026/aug/financial-conditions.html. “Banks have passed on the three cash rate increases to deposit and lending rates.” “Variable mortgage rates increased by nearly 75 basis points between January and June.”
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Bulletin, May 2026, “Developments in banks’ funding costs and lending rates” (Hutchinson, Manning, Searle), 28 May 2026. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2026/may/developments-in-banks-funding-costs-and-lending-rates.html. “Deposit costs declined by less than the decline in the cash rate over 2025 and rose by less than the cash rate as it was increased in early 2026.” “We estimate that the spread between banks’ lending rates and funding costs has increased since early 2025 but remains well below its pre-pandemic levels.” Margins “stabilised in 2025 around historical lows”.
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission: Retail deposits inquiry, final report, 15 December 2023. https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Retail-deposits-inquiry-final-report.pdf. “There are 4 major banks and 6 mid-tier banks which supply 89% of retail deposits.” “71% of bonus interest accounts did not receive the bonus interest rate on average each month over the first 6 months of 2023.”
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Statement on Monetary Policy, February 2026, Financial conditions, 3 February 2026. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2026/feb/financial-conditions.html. “However, less than 5 per cent of new and outstanding mortgages are on fixed-rate terms.”
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Statement on Monetary Policy, May 2026, Financial conditions (page metadata 1 May 2026). https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2026/may/financial-conditions.html. “Cash rate increases can take up to three months to flow through to minimum required variable-rate mortgage payments.”
- Macquarie: Help, Viewing the RBA interest rate decision, fetched 16:39 AEST, 29 September 2026. https://www.macquarie.com.au/help/personal/home-loans/understanding-your-home-loan-interest-rates-and-fees/viewing-the-rba-interest-rate-decision.html. “Macquarie is increasing its variable home loan reference rates by 0.25% per annum, effective 15 October 2026.” Ongoing variable savings rate by balance: 5.25% p.a. up to $250,000; 5.05% p.a. $250,000.01 to $2,000,000; 4.60% p.a. $2,000,000.01 and above. “we will also be increasing the interest rates available across our Transaction, Savings, Business Savings and Cash Management accounts effective 15 October 2026.” “The Welcome rate offer is no longer available to savings accounts opened after 11:59pm AEST Monday 14 September 2026.” The page does not split owner-occupier and investor loans. Transaction Account rate listed at 3.00% on all tiers. The sizes of the changes to the Transaction, Business Savings, Cash Management and Welcome rates were not verified. No term deposit change on this page.
- Macquarie: Savings account page, fetched 29 September 2026, still displaying the rates before 15 October. https://www.macquarie.com.au/everyday-banking/savings-account.html. Ongoing rates before the change: 5.00%, 5.00% and 2.75% for the three balance tiers. The differences (25, 5 and 185 basis points) are THE RORT’s calculation.
- Macquarie: “Savers are back in the box seat as RBA lifts cash rate”, 3 February 2026. https://www.macquarie.com/au/en/about/news/2026/savers-are-back-in-the-box-seat-as-rba-lifts-cash-rate.html. “Macquarie will increase variable interest rates paid on its transaction and savings accounts by 0.25% p.a. from 20 February 2026.”
- Savings.com.au (Denise Raward): RBA savings accounts, 29 September 2026. https://www.savings.com.au/news/rba-savings-accounts-sept-2026. UBank Save account welcome bonus rate “6.10% p.a. (up 25 basis points from 5.85% p.a.)”; ongoing Save rate with bonus, up to $1 million, “5.35% p.a. (up 25 basis points from 5.10% p.a.)”; both effective 6 October 2026. Secondary source; UBank’s own page was not fetched.
- Finder: September 2026 savings account cash rate increase, 29 September 2026. https://www.finder.com.au/rba-cash-rate/sept-2026-savings-account-cash-rate-increase. UBank Save Account: 5.85% introductory rate (4 months) to 6.10%, effective 6 October 2026. Secondary source.
- CBA, Westpac, NAB and ANZ rate announcement pages, each re-fetched between 16:44 and 16:46 AEST on 29 September 2026. https://www.commbank.com.au/news/rate-announcement.html; https://www.commbank.com.au/news/savings-rate-announcement.html; https://www.westpac.com.au/personal-banking/home-loans/manage-home-loan/latest-interest-rate-changes/; https://www.nab.com.au/news/interest-rates/change-to-nab-home-loan-rate; https://www.anz.com.au/personal/home-loans/interest-rates/rate-changes/. CBA (savings): “29 September 2026 Following The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) cash rate decision, we’re currently reviewing the interest rates for savings products.” Westpac: “As a result, our interest rates are currently under review.” ANZ: “ANZ is reviewing its home loan and residential investment loan interest rates accordingly and will provide any update here shortly.” Trackers (savings.com.au, https://www.savings.com.au/news/rba-rate-hike-sep-26; Finder) agreed the big four were pending.
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Bulletin, April 2024, Box A, “Bank funding and the recent tightening of monetary policy”, 18 April 2024. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2024/apr/bank-funding-and-the-recent-tightening-of-monetary-policy.html. “This ‘replicating portfolio’ of a rolling portfolio of receive-fixed, pay-floating interest rate swaps makes the effective interest rate associated with these deposits move with short-term market interest rates.” “changes in the cash rate have a relatively small effect on NIMs.”
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Bulletin, April 2024 (as [18]); Statement on Monetary Policy, November 2023, Domestic financial conditions. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2023/nov/domestic-financial-conditions.html. “the average interest rate on total deposits excluding offset accounts increased by 325 basis points over the hiking phase, around 75 per cent of the total increase in the cash rate.” “The average outstanding variable rate increased by around 70 basis points less than the cash rate between May 2022 and September 2023.” “the spread between lending rates and funding costs declined 60 basis points to around 190 basis points.” “Although major bank NIMs increased modestly in 2022, they have more recently declined below their pre-pandemic level.”
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Statement on Monetary Policy, November 2025, Financial conditions. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2025/nov/financial-conditions.html. “at-call deposit rates have declined by around 50 basis points since late 2024, while new term deposit rates have declined by around 75 basis points.” “Pass-through to average at-call deposit rates is typically less than 100 per cent because some deposit accounts have interest rates that do not move with the cash rate.”
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Christopher Kent, Assistant Governor, speech, 11 October 2023. https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2023/sp-ag-2023-10-11.html. “When interest rates go up, households pay more on their debt and earn more on their savings. Because the cash-flow channel is so noticeable, and felt so keenly by borrowers, it gets a lot of attention.”
- Reserve Bank of Australia: Bulletin, January 2025, “An update on the household cash flow channel of monetary policy” (Jennison and Miller), 30 January 2025. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2025/jan/an-update-on-the-household-cash-flow-channel-of-monetary-policy.html. “For the median outright homeowner household, the size of this increase is only around one-third of the decrease in cash flows experienced by the median mortgagor household.” “Conversely, many older households own their homes outright (or have low outstanding mortgage balances) and have large deposit savings, meaning this group typically benefit from higher interest rates.”
- KPMG Australia: media release on the major banks’ FY25 results, 10 November 2025. https://kpmg.com/au/en/media/media-releases/2025/11/australian-major-banks-post-steady-fy25-results.html. Net interest income up 5.9 per cent to $78.8 billion, “primarily due to higher earnings on capital and deposits replicating portfolios, partly offset by the impact of increased ongoing competition on deposit pricing and lending margins.”