INTEREST RATES

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 December 1934, Page 7

INTEREST RATES

AUSTRALIAN REDUCTION. [BY CABLE—PRESS assn. —COPYRIGHT.] SYDNEY, December 17. The Commonwealth Bank Board announces a further reduction of onehalf of one per cent, per annum in its interest rates on fixed deposits foi three and six'months. The net rates will be: Three months, 1 per cent., six months, 1* per cent. The Board has also decided to reduce by one-quarter of one per cent, the interest rate on the Savings Bank deposits up to £ 500, from the beginning of the year. The new rate will then be two per cent, per annum. TRADING BANKS’ DECISION. MELBOURNE, December 17. The Associated Banks of Victoria have decided not to reduce their interest rates on fixed deposits, in conformity with the reductions announced by the Commonwealth Bank. The Asociated Banks Chairman, Mr E. O’Sullivan, declared that interest rates have already reached the bedrock level. U.S.A. CUT.

WASHINGTON, December 16. As a further move to ensure cheap credit as a stimulus to a business iecovery, the Federal Reserve Bank system has to-day reduced from 3 per cent, to 2J per cent, the maximum interest rates payable by its member banks on time and Savings Bank deposits. Furthermore, all of the nonFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation will be likewise limited. It is estimated that fourteen thousand, or practically all of the nations’ banks, will come under these categories.