The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and South Africa’s top five banking institutions will set up a committee to study lending rates, SARB Governor Tito Mboweni said on Friday.
This follows a meeting between Mboweni and CEOs and one deputy CEO from the country’s top banks on Thursday evening.
”The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the spread between repo and the prime lending rates,” Mboweni said.
”It was agreed that a technical sub-committee would be established to look into the issue and other related matters further, and report back to the group as soon as possible.”
The sub-committee will be convened by Cas Coovadia of the Banking Association South Africa and senior Reserve Bank official Roelf du Plooy.
Earlier this month, Mboweni said he would meet CEOs of South Africa’s top commercial banks to discuss lowering the interest rates they charge consumers.
He contended that South Africa’s banks were not necessarily passing on the benefits of repo rate cuts to consumers. — Sapa