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TORONTO — The Bank of Canada’s decision to lower its overnight lending rate is expected to send consumer interest rates even lower.

Consumers with variable rate mortgages tied to prime will reap immediate benefits from the move as banks lower their rates to match the central bank reduction. Toronto-Dominion Bank was the first to cut its prime lending rate, slicing off 10 basis points to 2.75 per cent. Later Wednesday, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal followed, shaving their prime lending rates by 15 basis points to 2.70 per cent.

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Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce followed with their own cuts late Wednesday, shaving off 15 basis points to their prime lending rates. That leaves four of the banks with a prime rate of 2.70 per cent, while TD is the lone outlier with a 2.75 per cent rate.

All are effective Thursday.

The Bank of Canada’s cut its overnight lending rate Wednesday and once again the country’s financial institutions seem unlikely to pass on the full extent of the reduction to consumers.