Malcolm Edey, an assistant governor at the Reserve Bank of Australia, on Wednesday said special rates offered on term deposits had created increased competition in the deposit market.

Edey noted that banks tend to operate with a two-tier pricing structure on their term deposits, offering significantly higher-than-average rates at certain points on the maturity spectrum.

In the years just prior to the crisis, Edey said the pricing of term-deposit specials was fairly stable. They were typically