Of course, from the point of view of deposit-takers 1 and the people they lend to, it mightn’t seem particularly good news, because this is one of the factors that have been adding to the relative cost of funds, and therefore adding to the cost of lending.
I’ve been asked to talk today about what’s driving this competition in the deposit market, and how it might develop from here. I’m going to stick to that brief, but I also want to place it in a broader context by looking at how competition has evolved over a longer period.