LOWER DEPOSIT RATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 222, 18 September 1940, Page 4

LOWER DEPOSIT RATES.

BANKS' SHORT-TERM MONEY. HALF PER CENT REDUCTION. WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The Associated Banks announce that the ral'es of interest payable on fixed deposits received or lenewed on and after September IS. 1940. will be as follows:—Three month's and under six months, % per cent; six months and under twelve months, Hi per cent ; twelve months and under twentyfour months. 2'.i per cent; twenty-four months, 2H; per cent. The twelve months' and twenty-four mouths' rates are unchanged, a reduction being made in three months' and six months' rates, short-term money being unemployable by the banks at the present time.

Present rates fare: Three lo six months, l'i per cent per annum; six months to twelve months, l J j per cent; twelve months to twenty-four months. 2', 4 per cent; twenty-four months to thirty-six months. i\'i per cent. They have been In force since November. 1934. Interest rates on fixed deposits In Australia were reduced by 14 per cent per annum in January, the movement being the first for over four years. Rates now quoted in the Commonwealth are: Three months, 1 3 4 per cent per annum; six months. 2>i per cent; twelve months, 2' 2 per cent; two years. 2?i per cent. The reduction in deposit rates may have some Influence on bank overdraft rates. The present minimum of 4'i per cent for "best" accounts has been unchanged since 1934.