In the book of Matthew, there's a parable where a master entrusted three servants with some of his money; two of them invested it and generated a return while the third hid the money and only handed back what he originally was given.
According to Jesus, the master praised the first two, but reprimanded the "wicked and lazy" third, who was "thrown into darkness" as punishment.
You might infer that means Jesus would be a fan of term deposit products, although there is also some stuff in the Old Testament about interest not being cool so this could be an inappropriate conclusion.
Or maybe you're not Christian or religious at all and you just want to see some juicy TD rates.
In any case, Great Southern Bank and Challenger Bank were among several that decided to honour the Easter weekend with some delicious term deposit rate hikes.
Challenger Bank boosts rates 5 bps
| Term length | Deposit size | Payment Frequency | Interest Rate (Percentage Point Change) |
| Six months | $25,000*-$1,000,000 | End of term | 5.15% p.a (+0.05) |
*$5,000 for existing customers
After this week's boost, Challenger and Gateway Bank are now neck and neck at the summit of the six month term deposit market in Australia.
At 5.15% p.a, that means a $25,000 deposit right now at either could return $643.75 by September, before tax.
Gateway offers deposits starting at $1,000 though, so may retain a slight edge in some customers' eyes who have lower balances.
Both products however are behind that of Credit Union SA, where a seven month term can currently return 5.25% p.a.
Great Southern Bank boosts rates up to 70 bps
| Term length | Deposit size | Payment Frequency | Interest Rate (Percentage Point Change) |
| Three months | $5,000-$99,999,999.99 | End of term | 4.90% p.a (+0.70) |
| Nine months | $5,000-$99,999,999.99 | End of term | 4.95% p.a (+0.45) |
| One year | $5,000-$99,999,999.99 | End of term | 5.00% p.a (+0.30) |
Great Southern Bank (GSB) was a big mover this week, cracking the 5% threshold for one year terms.
Per Savings.com.au's market research, that's 15 basis points behind the market leaders for one year, also Gateway Bank at 5.15% p.a.
At 4.90% p.a, GSB is level with Gateway for three months, and 5 basis points ahead of Judo, one of the other traditional heavy hitters for TDs.
Rabobank boosts rates up to 20 bps
| Term length | Deposit size | Payment Frequency | Interest Rate (Percentage Point Change) |
| Three months | $1,000-$2,000,000 | Annually | 4.80% p.a (+0.10) |
| Six months | $1,000-$2,000,000 | Annually | 4.85% p.a (+0.10) |
| Nine months | $1,000-$2,000,000 | Annually | 4.70% p.a (+0.20) |
| Five years | $1,000-$2,000,000 | End of term | 4.90% p.a (+0.20) |
For once, we have something other than pure speculation to go off to explain some rate changes.
"We have made some changes to our Term Deposit pricing to reflect movements in the yield curve which has resulted in increases to our three month, six month, nine month and five year rates," RaboBank head of online savings Julie Blanchard told savings.com.au.
The yield curve basically shows the return on different bonds with varying terms until maturity, and is often used to estimate how investors are predicting interest rates moving forward.
Other movers
- BCU boosts rates up to 70 bps
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Want to earn a fixed interest rate on your cash? The table below features term deposits with some of the highest interest rates on the market for a six-month term.
- Easy online application
- Interest can be paid to other institutions
- Maturity alert by email and phone
Picture by Janan Lagerwall on Unsplash
Harry O'Sullivan
William Jolly
Staff Writers
