June 21 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) on Wednesday cut its buffer rate for some borrowers refinancing their existing home loan to 1% from the industry standard of 3%, providing relief to many clients who would otherwise fail to qualify due to high interest rates. The country's prudential regulator advises lenders to refinance home loans only if they believe the customer could repay at 3% higher than current market rates. While CBA's alternate buffer is not in line with the regulator's recommendation, it does not break the serviceability buffer, the regulator said, as it allows exceptions to the policy but warns against high volumes. CBA has a quarter of the Australian mortgage market, where thousands of borrowers are expected to end their fixed rate loans this year, forcing them to shop around for new loans at current rates. "We know that due to the current interest rate environment some home owners are facing challenges refinancing their home loans so we are introducing an alternate interest rate serviceability buffer," CBA's Michael Baumann, executive general manager home buying said.

---

Persons: CBA's Michael Baumann, Sameer Manekar, Byron Kaye, Nivedita Organizations: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, prudential, CBA, Prudential Regulation Authority, Westpac Banking Corp, Reserve Bank of Australia, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Sydney