The chancellor of the exchequer has asserted that the UK's major lenders must pass the interest rate on to consumers immediately.
Chancellor Alistair Darling summoned the chief executives of the biggest banks in the UK to Downing Street to emphasise that they must pass the 1.5 percent interest rate cut to their consumers.
Treasury sources claim that the chiefs of Lloyds TSB, Barclays, HSBC, HBOS and Abbey were called upon to slash their rates with immediate effect.
As of midday today (November 7th), Abbey, Lloyds TSB and Bradford & Bingley were the only three financial institutions to fully pass on the rate cut.
Meanwhile, Halifax, HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, NatWest and Barclays claimed they have not cut their rates as they are currently under review. These institutions added that any changes will be announced in the near-term.
The Bank of England reduced the official bank rate to three percent earlier this week, a reduction of 1.5 percentage points.
In a statement released on November 6th, the Bank's monetary policy committee claimed that the "significant reduction" was necessary to meet medium-term inflation targets.
The last change to the bank rate was a 0.5 percent reduction to 4.5 percent on October 8th of this year.
