Rate cut no guarantee of return of confidence: NAB boss

An expected rate cut on Melbourne Cup Day is not guaranteed to stimulate consumer spending and the take-up of credit, according to NAB CEO Cameron Clyne.

Speaking to the media following the publication of annual results that reported NAB recorded a full-year net profit of $5.21 billion and mortgage book growth at three times the banking sector average, Clyne said a rate cut might not be a catalyst for a return of confidence.

“It is a little unclear if global stability has a greater bias for consumer confidence or if something like a rate cut will have a bigger impact,” he says.

He says people reading every day about concerns in Europe have a bias to be more conservative and points to a collapse in confidence following the first US debt ceiling crisis. In the months before the US crisis, Clyne says confidence had been rising.

“If you get a rate cut but there are still overseas concerns, it may not be a catalyst to a return of confidence,” he says.

“It’s hard to say.”

Clyne also says the bank is comfortable with its mortgage market share gains following its “break-up” media campaigns and taking the lead on abolishing mortgage exit fees.