Banks should disclose profit margins: Bawden

Weighing in against the banks in the wake of Parliament's finance and expenditure committee's criticism of banks not passing on cuts in the official cash rate (OCR) to their mortgage customers, Bawden says the banks should be playing their part in getting the economy going again.

"You're not going to stimulate this economy until people start spending and if you don't reduce the costs of borrowing, you're not freeing up cash for people and businesses to do that," he says.

Making banks disclose their profit margins "is one way of keeping them honest."

Bawden says the indications the banks are treating their mortgage books as individual profit centres. Credit card interest rates haven't come down either. And there's also evidence the banks are taking a much harder line on charging fees.