Lenders including National Australia Bank Ltd. were forced to pay as much as 8.5% for five-year bonds last year, the data show. Macquarie raised about $US7 billion since November from bonds yielding as much as 5.8 percentage points less than dollar- denominated notes it sold without government backing. After paying a fee for the guarantee, the Sydney-based bank saved about $US278 million in interest payments on its $US5.8 billion of fixed- rate dollar notes, Bloomberg data show. Craig Shapiro, an executive director in Macquarie's treasury department, declined to comment.