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After two days of silence, two of Australia's "big four" banks have finally confirmed they will lift interest rates on variable mortgages by 0.5 percentage points.
Commonwealth Bank was the first of the "big four" banks to pass on the Reserve Bank's latest rate hike on Thursday morning, followed shortly after by ANZ.
The RBA lifted its cash rate target by 0.5 percentage points on Tuesday, taking the new rate to a six-year high of 1.85 per cent.
It was no surprise that the commercial banks would pass on the RBA's rate increase to their borrowers. However, the surprising aspect is how uncharacteristically slow the banks have been in making such announcements in the past couple of days.
Westpac and NAB still haven't provided any update on their new borrowing rates.
Australia's fifth-largest lender, Macquarie Bank, was the first bank to lift its variable rates within hours of the RBA's decision on Tuesday.
This was followed on Wednesday by ubank — an NAB subsidiary — announcing it would lift its savings rates by 0.5 percentage points in September.
"This kind of waiting game is unusual, but not unprecedented," said Sally Tindall, the research director of RateCity.
Ms Tindall said the last time there was "radio silence" like this from the banks was around 12 years ago.
"Back in 2010, three of the big four banks took between eight and 10 days to make announcements following the 0.25 percentage point RBA hike on 2 November."
“The delay could be a worrying sign for savers. It's possible the banks are still mulling over whether they will pass on the full hike to all their savings customers."
"However, the big four banks could just be playing a game of chicken to see which one of them moves first."
CBA increased its standard variable rates for its borrowers by 0.5 percentage points. This brings is lowest variable rate to 3.79 per cent.
In a surprise move, CBA also decided to cut its lowest four-year fixed rate to 4.99 per cent (a drop of 1.60 percentage points). But it only applies to owner-occupiers paying principal and interest
The bank also said it would increase the rate on "select savings products", meaning it has not passed on the RBA's full rate hike to all savers.
Similarly, ANZ said it would increase all its variable mortgage rates by 0.5 percentage points, and for one of its savings accounts, ANZ Plus Save.
Both banks are also offering term deposits that pay higher interest — CBA will pay savers 3 per cent annual interest, if they agree to lock their money with the bank for 18 months. ANZ is offering the same rate, but for an 11-month term deposit.
The Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been pressuring banks to pass on the RBA's interest rate rises, in full, to savers who have had record low returns over recent years.
Shortly before the RBA's decision on Tuesday, Dr Chalmers said the big banks should do the fair thing and apply higher interest rates to customers with savings accounts.
"There needs to be some positives out of this," he said.
"For savers, they need and deserve higher interest rates on their savings.
"So I will have the opportunity to convey to the banks directly my expectation that these interest rate rises get passed on to savers."