Big four banks post massive profits after refusing to pass on full rate cuts THE value of Australia's Big Four banks has risen by more than $90 billion in the past year while they have refused to pass on interest rate cuts in full. Shareholders have been the biggest winners in the mortgage wars with customers left in second place and after two years of bolstering their bottom line it is time that banks started passing on rate cuts in full, consumer groups said. Research shows that homeowners have been shortchanged by almost $1000 a year with the banks pocketing a significant portion of the rate reductions since the Reserve Bank cutting cycle began in November 2011. While in the same period, the share prices of the majors have risen by between 33-40 per cent with the Big Four banks delivering a collective profit of over $25 billion last year. In recent months, the value of the Big Four has jumped to almost $340 billion - which is bigger than the size of the whole Singapore economy. But after years of the majors blaming "higher global funding costs" for failing to pass on official interest rate cuts in full, Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev this week for the first time admitted the possibility the majors may move on mortgage rates outside of the RBA rate cutting cycle within 6-9 months, if the funding pressures continue to ease. There has been growing evidence since late last year the big banks are paying less to borrow. Yet ANZ was the only major to pass on in full any of last year's four rate cuts and that was just on one occasion in June. ING Direct -- which has passed on the last two RBA cuts in full -- yesterday said there has been a ``significant shift" in the cost of new money in recent months. But consumer advocate Christopher Zinn warned the banks spend tens of millions of dollars trying to pretend they are customers friends when really it is shareholders that are at the top of the queue. ``Customers need to open their eyes to what is going on as the banks are costing them thousands of dollars and the consumer needs to get the power back by shopping around and looking at the the cheaper options that exist," he said. But Australian Bankers Association chief executive Steven Munchenberg said customer satisfaction with the big banks is at a record high. ``Increasing profits is not a bad thing in a growing economy and Australian banks offer good returns and security which is hard combination to find on current markets," he said.