Westpac NZ has moved quickly to cut variable lending rates for home loan and business customers following today's OCR cut - while holding a savings rate unchanged.
Effective Monday 1 December for new customers and Thursday 4 December for existing customers, Westpac is cutting its variable home loan rates by 0.20% p.a. and most variable business lending rates by 0.25% p.a. On the variable deposits side, Westpac is not passing on any of today's OCR cut on its Notice Saver product, leaving the rate unchanged at 3.00% p.a.
Westpac NZ Managing Director of Product, Sustainability and Marketing, Sarah Hearn, says the bank is working hard to provide great value across all lending and savings rates, not just variable home loans.
"By announcing variable rate changes today, we'll be delivering rate relief as soon as next week for borrowers," Ms Hearn says.
"Additionally, nearly 90% of our home loan customers are on a fixed rate, and we recently became the first New Zealand bank to offer sub-5% p.a. special rates on all fixed terms from 6 months to 5 years.
"Supporting this, an independent analysis earlier this month by Opes Partners rated Westpac as consistently offering the lowest fixed rates of any bank over the last two years. We'll continue to compete hard to win more customers.
"We're also stepping up our support for businesses. Since the OCR started falling in August 2024, we've cut some business lending rates by 3.30% - more than the OCR has fallen in that time - to encourage investment and growth.
"We also know that savings customers are watching falling rates closely and we're here to support them. Importantly, we've held our Notice Saver rate unchanged since June of this year - while the OCR has fallen by 1.00% p.a. in that time. We're offering a real point of difference for customers looking for an attractive return on their savings."
