Harris urges banks to pass on interest rate cuts quickly

The Taoiseach has called on banks to pass on any interest rate cuts to customers “as quickly as possible”.

Simon Harris made the comments ahead of a meeting of the European Central Bank governing council tomorrow, at which it is widely expected a rate reduction will be announced.

Speaking as he arrived at Government Buildings for a Cabinet meeting, Mr Harris said it looks like we are now moving into an era of interest rate reduction.

“And just like when there was an era of interest rates increases that impacted mortgage holders in the negative, I want to see these reductions now impact them in the positive,” Mr Harris stated.

Homeowners with a tracker mortgage will automatically benefit from any possible cut to interest rates.

The Taoiseach said it is “important that banks pass that on as quickly as possible” for mortgage payers on variable rates too.

“If you’re a mortgage holder, you have seen mortgage interest rates increase at an ECB level now for almost two years,” he said.

“There have been many, many people across this country that have seen their mortgage monthly payments go up and in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis that is still biting and that is still hurting people, it’s really important that there’s a bit of fair play,” he said.

The Minister for Finance also said he expects banks to pass on any interest rate cuts to customers in “a fair and consistent manner”.

Michael McGrath said all the indications are that there will be an interest rate reduction announced by the ECB tomorrow.

He said such a move will be “welcome news for many thousands of tracker mortgage customers in Ireland”.

Mr McGrath said the Government expects the banks to reprice their products accordingly and to “treat people in a fair manner and to be consistent in their treatment of customers”.

“Of course, pricing is a commercial matter for the banks, but in the same way that interest rates at a retail level rose in line with ECB rate changes, as the ECB now begins to reduce interest rates, I expect those reductions to be passed on to customers in a fair and consistent manner over the period ahead, with tracker customers of course benefiting immediately,” he stated.