UPDATE 1-Adelaide Bank ups mortgage rate by 40 bps
(Adds Adelaide Bank confirmation)
SYDNEY, March 5 (Reuters) - Australian regional lender Adelaide Bank said it had raised its wholesale mortgage rate by 40 basis points, exceeding the central bank's 25 basis point increase in official rates the previous day.
The increase was due to the rising cost of funds caused by the global credit crisis, a spokesman for the bank said.
Adelaide Bank, which was acquired by Bendigo Bank Ltd (BEN.AX) in a A$1.57 billion deal last year, heavily relies on wholesale funding markets to meet its funding needs.
A third of Adelaide's A$16 billion ($14.8 billion) mortgage book would be impacted by the increase.
Adelaide Bank's decision comes a day after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised official interest rates by 25 basis points to a 12-year high of 7.25 percent.
In January, for the first time in a decade, Australia's top lenders raised their home loan rates independent of the Reserve Bank in response to a sharp rise in credit costs on global markets. ($1=A$1.08) (Reporting by Denny Thomas; Editing by James Thornhill)
