BANKS THREATEN TO MAKE CUSTOMERS PAY
unveiled in the Budget, accusing Treasurer Scott Morrison of treating them like a “magic pudding”.
They slammed it as a “stealth tax” on everyone that would hit account fees, interest rates and shareholdings.
Average Aussies could be whacked an extra $450 a year on a $300,000 mortgage as banks seek to recoup some of the damage, experts warn. Already $15 billion has been wiped off the market value of the big banks.
Under Budget changes, the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB, ANZ and the Macquarie will have to stump up the $6.2 billion over the next four years through the new levy. It will raise $1.6 billion next year.
Commonwealth Bank chief Ian Narev warned: “It is a simple fact of business that every extra cost needs to be borne by customers, shareholders, or a combination of both. There is no such thing as a cost being absorbed.”
But the Treasurer was not backing down, blasting the big banks’ threat to pass on the cost to customers.
“One and a half billion is raised and there’s an annual profit of those banks combined of more than $30 billion. Give me a break. That’s what Australians will also be saying,” Mr Morrison said yesterday.