The bosses of some of Australia’s biggest banks are set for a parliamentary grilling, as mortgage holders grapple with stubborn interest rates.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn and Westpac head Peter King will appear to give evidence before a House of Representatives committee reviewing Australia’s big four banks on Thursday.
The big four control about 80 per cent of the Australian banking sector.
The committee chair, Labor MP Daniel Mulino, said interest rate decisions would be a key focus of the inquiry.
“The Reserve Bank governor told us it is premature for commentators to be thinking about rate cuts yet the major banks all predict an easing cycle in the near to medium term. We want to understanding the reasoning,” he said.
The official cash rate has been kept at 4.35 per cent by the Reserve Bank since November.
The Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock said earlier in August that an interest rate cut would be unlikely by the end of 2024.
Dr Mulino said how the major banks dealt with scams would also be addressed by the parliamentary inquiry.
“Australians lost $2.7 billion to scams last year, with a marked increase in scams from social media,” he said.
“The banks are obviously not the only powerful corporations in this space, but they are incredibly important and many people are rightly calling on them to do more to protect vulnerable customers.”
Thursday will be the first of two days of hearings into the big four banks, with NAB and ANZ executives to appear on Friday.
