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St George Bank raised its variable interest rate on mortgages to recoup higher funding costs, the fourth major Australian bank to increase borrowing costs in the past week without any action from the central bank. Australia's fifth-biggest bank will lift its rate 20 basis points to 8.77 per cent from Tuesday, Sydney-based St George said yesterday in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and ANZ raised their rates for variable home loans this month, the first time in more than a decade that the nation's biggest lenders made a change in home loan rates that didn't follow the Reserve Bank of Australia.
