Do you find it offensive that banks are so tardy in raising interest rates on deposits?  

Not happy ... but can understand it, apparently they have record deposits at the moment so they don't need funds ... therefore no need to offer higher deposit rates.

Suncorp are probably the best of the majors right now.

Of course we stuck by our bank, there was no other choice was there? All the banks were charging borrowers about the same as well as not paying any interest on savings. (Well, 0.01% and nothing are about the same.) Whether we like it or not, banks are a business which is run to keep shareholders happy, not the customers. All of us need a bank so people who leave one bank go to another and it becomes a game of swings and roundabouts. Banks have been investigated for collusion without success but just as fuel companies raise and lower prices within minutes of each other, banks do the same with interest rates. We can moan all we like about the banking system but there's not a lot that can be done by any government to change them.

Way back when, banks were a good place to borrow and invest and the rates were set by the Reserve bank and all banks fell into line. Every large country town or suburb gave people a choice of 8 banks, 2 of them government owned, one state, one federal. Then the 70's hit and  a federal government allowed banks to merge. 6 private banks became three and the choice was reduced.

Then in the 80's banks were deregulated, interest rates were no longer controlled by the Reserve bank and overseas banks were allowed to trade in Australia. State by state, the banks run by them were allowed to go broke or were sold to other financial institutions and then there were 4 banks that could be classified as Australian. Rationalisation meant the closing of banks in country towns and suburbs purely and simply to increase profits and the inconvenience to customers was never considered.

It matters little which governments made decisions which eventually gave the banks autonomy to charge what they like or pay whatever little rate the choose, the horse has bolted. No government has the will or the intestinal fortitude to bring back any control of the banks. They prefer to use the standard phrase about letting the free market sort all of that out. We have an election soon and the sad thing about that is that all of the candidates in all of the parties want your vote to give them a good paying job, not a job that will make any meaningful difference to the voters but one that will line their pockets for at least the next three years. 

"Even the PM is giving them a serve, saying retirees must be given “a fair go” for staying loyal during the pandemic.

“My message to the banks is to give (deposit holders) a fair go,” he said. “I’d be encouraging the banks – it’s obviously their call and there is no way to force them to do that – in fairness to those deposit-holders who have stood by their savings.

“They deserve the recognition of that, ensuring that those (interest) benefits are passed on directly to them.”

The PM might be a master of politics but he is feckless when it comes to economics and finance. 

Sue

re " banks are a business which is run to keep shareholders happy, not the customers. "

Why would the customers then not buy shares ??