Acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan says the National Australia Bank is "greedy" for not passing on in full an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
NAB, the last of the big four banks to cut home lending rates, on Wednesday said it was lowering its standard variable rate by 20 basis points.
This is less than the RBA's 25 basis point reduction announced on Tuesday, and comes after NAB's peers passed on the full cut.
However, NAB said the new rate of 7.47 per cent was still the lowest among the major banks.
But that wasn't good enough for the treasurer, Mr Swan, who is acting prime minister while Julia Gillard attends a G20 Leaders meeting in France.
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"It's a greedy decision from the NAB and it is not justified in my view by the fundamentals," Mr Swan told reporters in Canberra.
"It's a kick in the guts to working families."
He said as exit fees on new mortgages have been abolished in response to government measures, "NAB customers have the choice to walk down the road and get a better deal".
