Update: I was holding this post back, but the government has decided that the bank guarantee is to stop.

Australia's financial regulators say the guarantee scheme for large deposits and wholesale funding – introduced at the height of the global financial crisis to help the nation's banks borrow funds overseas – can now be phased out because of improved funding conditions.

The decision on Tuesday by the RBA to keep the cash rate at 3.75% was seen as a surprise by some (not me - hehe). Could it be that it is the big four banks that actually caused the RBA to keep rates on hold because they are increasing the margin between the cash rate and their standard variable rate (SVR). The Australian reported that "RBA deputy governor Ric Battellino warned monetary policy in Australia was higher than the official cash rate because of the move by the banks after the three rate rises in 2009."

IG markets analyst Ben Potter said:

"Comments that stimulus affects are fading and that banks have hiked in excess of the official cash rate have clearly hit home with the RBA"

I thought that I should create a chart that shows the increase in the difference between the RBA cash rate and the SVR.

Back in November 2007, the gap between the RBA cash rate (6.75%) and the SVR (8.75%) was 1.82%. This is the rate it was for year and years.

Now - the gap is 3.01%.

The banks are now taking more than 1% extra - and where does that go? Does that mean we should thank the banks for the interest rate staying the same? Will the banks ever return the gap to 1.82% - or will they continue to gouge their customers in their search for bigger profits?