Proactive Investors - Chancellor Jeremey Hunt has once again urged banks to assure customers are feeling the benefit of higher interest on their savings, ahead of a busy week of lenders’ earnings.
Anticipating a profitable first half of the year for major banks, Hunt dwelled on the fact many were still offering “measly” rates to savers despite last month’s base interest hike.
“We all do well when business does well. Profits are a vital incentive to encourage people to innovate, invest and take risks,” Hunt told The Times.
However, he added: “I also hope to hear about what they have done - and are doing - for their customers directly.”
Banks have faced scrutiny over supposed profiteering, after being quick to pass on higher mortgage rates on the announcement but slow to grant savers better deals.
Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) PLC and Banco Santander (BME:SAN) were among the first to kick off the interim results season on Wednesday, penning £3.9bn and £4.5bn in pre-tax profits respectively.
Barclays (LON:BARC), NatWest Group PLC (LON:NWG), HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) and Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) are set to publish results in the coming days meanwhile, having all benefitted from last month’s fifty basis point base rate hike by the Bank of England.
Hunt urged banks to respect the “social contract” with customers, echoing previous calls for banks to hurry along in passing on better savings rates.
According to Moneyfacts, smaller lenders buy and large offer better rates on easy access individual savings accounts, with Wednesday’s top rate of 4.52% being from Shawbrook Bank.