I don't think I articulated myself well, I wasn't taking a judgement. There is no logical inference that a company needs (or deserves) the profit margin it had last year, for example, that's just a fact of business.
My point was essentially to stay viable, the bank needs to have some profit margin. Here is a classic business choice between maintaining or improving profit margin, and maintaining or improving services.
So my point was they could obviously remaining viable while offering higher rates, they choose not to because it increases short term profit - if they think they are losing enough business to other banks with better rates, presumably they will start raising them to compete.
The fact that they can't really meet current federal rates and stay profitable is interesting, it suggests they have some pretty heavy cost centers to carry.
My point was essentially to stay viable, the bank needs to have some profit margin. Here is a classic business choice between maintaining or improving profit margin, and maintaining or improving services.
So my point was they could obviously remaining viable while offering higher rates, they choose not to because it increases short term profit - if they think they are losing enough business to other banks with better rates, presumably they will start raising them to compete.
The fact that they can't really meet current federal rates and stay profitable is interesting, it suggests they have some pretty heavy cost centers to carry.