Bank funding cost rocket scorches another lender

The bank funding cost rocket eased as expected yesterday but not by much with CBA CDS falling two points to 113bps:

Our European and US proxies fell sharply too so the Ponzi Index held up:

We can add another bank to the mounting list of net interest margin casualties with Bendigo out yesterday, via Banking Day:

A week after Bank of Queensland put up its mortgage rates, citing higher funding costs and the impact of competition, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has reported that higher funding costs are putting pressure on its margin.

In a March quarter update yesterday, Bendigo and Adelaide chief financial officer Richard Fennell said costs were higher in the wholesale funding market and, more recently, in the term deposit market.

Earlier this week the bank raised A$650 million of five-year senior unsecured wholesale funds, paying a margin of 146 basis points.

Fennell said: “We got bids for $800 million. There is demand but investors expect to earn more.”

The bank has done its re-funding for the year.

Fennell said the higher funding costs were flowing through to the term deposit market “in some channels”.

He said “core” TD rates were steady but deposits sold through the bank’s wealth management arm were higher.

More out of cycle tightening to come.