Macquarie’s banking arm will launch an attempt to expand its share of the transaction account market by lifting its interest rate from 0.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent. | Clancy Yeates
Investment giant Macquarie Group says it wants to disrupt a key part of retail banking by raising interest rates sharply on transaction accounts, in a major change to the near zero rates traditionally paid by banks on such products.
It’s about time that Australians get that same higher rate on that transaction account as they’re getting on that savings accountAnalysts said these fears of deposit competition were one reason bank shares tumbled on Wednesday, with Westpac plunging 6.1 per cent, Commonwealth Bank dropping 4.4 per cent, ANZ Bank shares dropping 2.3 per cent, and National Australia Bank dropping almost 4 per cent. Macquarie shares bucked the trend and rose 1 per cent.
“It’s about time that Australians get that same higher rate on that transaction account as they’re getting on that savings account,” she said. “We think it will be a really disruptive idea in this space.”McArdle added the move would not have a material impact on Macquarie’s banking and financial services division, in part because it had a small share of less than 1 per cent in the transaction account market.