The Reserve Bank hosted a small business finance roundtable on 22 May 2012. The purpose of the roundtable was to better understand how the small business sector is financed and where there might be information gaps. The attendees included small business owners, sector representatives, financial...

The Reserve Bank has conducted a survey on bank fees each year since 1997. The results of the latest survey show that banks’ aggregate fee income rose slightly in the banks’ 2011 financial years, but that growth in fee income was less than that in banks’ total assets. Fee income from...

Over the past year, lending rates and funding costs have both fallen in absolute terms but have risen relative to the cash rate. The rise in funding costs, relative to the cash rate, reflects strong competition for deposits, particularly term deposits, and higher spreads on wholesale debt...