The RBA has held since May. The BBSW rate under your business loan has climbed 29 basis points.

BBSW, the Bank Bill Swap Rate, is the benchmark for what it costs Australia's major banks to raise short-term funding for one to six months. ASX calculates it every business day from trading in bank bills and negotiable certificates of deposit issued by those banks. Because it is a market price, it carries the market's view of where the cash rate is heading over the months ahead, and it moves on that view well before a Reserve Bank meeting.

The cash rate is the rate the Reserve Bank sets at its board meetings. Most floating-rate business loans and commercial property facilities are written as BBSW, often the 3-month tenor, plus a margin, and they reset monthly or quarterly. Having spent years in banking, I can say the margin is set once, at approval, from the lender's assessment of the business, the security and the sector. From that point, the part of your rate that moves between reviews is the benchmark, which sits outside both your control and the lender's.

The chart is built from the Reserve Bank's F1 table: the cash rate target and the end-of-day 3-month bank bill rate from ASX, the market BBSW is set from, for every business day of 2026 to 24 September. The clay layer is the benchmark. The hatched band on top is an illustrative 2.50% margin, and it keeps the same thickness the whole way through. As you scroll, the readout prices a $2 million facility on each day.

A gap that wide between bank bills and the cash rate shows what the market is pricing for the months ahead. Markets reprice often, so I read it as a reason to check your own exposure now, whatever the Reserve Bank decides next.

Set the facility amount and margin to match your own loan, then move BBSW. The margin block keeps its width wherever the benchmark goes, so every basis point of BBSW flows through to your interest bill until the next review or a refinance. The arithmetic is the same whether the facility funds commercial property finance across Australia or business loans and working capital.

The 2.50% margin is an illustration only. Margins vary widely with the lender, the security, the sector and the strength of the file, and the benchmark tenor matters too. On 24 September the 6-month bank bill rate was 5.12% against 4.73% for 3 months, so two quotes at the same headline rate can carry quite different margins underneath. For repayments, borrowing power and acquisition sizing, our finance calculators run the other numbers you will want beside this one.

How often does the rate reset?

The facility agreement sets the reset frequency. Monthly resets track BBSW closely, while quarterly resets give you a lag in both directions, which helps in a rising market and costs you in a falling one.

Is there a floor on BBSW?

Some facilities set a minimum benchmark rate. A floor protects the lender when rates fall and does nothing for the borrower when they rise, so it is worth knowing whether yours has one before you compare offers.

What is the margin on its own?

Ask for the margin separately from the all-in rate, along with the benchmark tenor it sits on. The margin is the part of your pricing that reflects the lender's view of your business, and it is the part you can negotiate on the strength of your file.

Would a fixed portion suit the asset?

Fixing part of a commercial property facility turns BBSW movement into a known cost. It carries a break cost if you refinance or sell early, so it belongs on the share of the debt you are confident will run to term.