After the Reserve Bank decided to raise the official cash rate by 25 basis points, the first of the four major banks to do so was ANZ.

On Tuesday, the RBA board met to make its first decision on the OCR for 2023. Less than three hours later, on February 17, ANZ announced it would raise variable interest rates across its home loan range by 0.25%pa, in line with the increase in the cash rate.

As a matter of policy, ANZ also increased its interest rate on certain savings account.

Inflation, at 7.8%, remained higher than expected, and robust domestic demand was adding to inflationary pressures, according to RBA governor Philip Lowe, who announced the RBA’s ninth consecutive rate hike on Tuesday by raising the OCR by 25 basis points to 3.35%.

According to ANZ, when deciding on interest rate policies, the bank takes into account a number of factors. These include customer feedback, the movement of the official cash rate, company performance, and external market factors.