Top Australia Banker Says Consumer Confidence Battered on Rates
- CBA CEO Matt Comyn say homeowners bearing brunt of rate hikes
- First time homebuyers have slashed spending, Comyn says
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Australians are feeling the pressure of interest rates that have surged over the past year, with household confidence as low as during the global financial crisis of 2008 and the depth of the Covid-19 pandemic.
That’s according to Matt Comyn, chief executive officer of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the biggest lender in the country. “Those with mortgages are bearing the brunt of monetary policy, but renters are also facing sharp increases,” Comyn told lawmakers during a parliamentary hearing Thursday.