Negative Rates for the People Arrive as German Bank Gives In
- German cooperative sets -0.4% rate on funds over EU100,000
- Move comes two weeks after ECB says no risk of cash hoarding
Negative Rates Come to Germany
This article is for subscribers only.
When the European Central Bank introduced a negative interest rate on lenders’ deposits two years ago, few thought things would ever go this far.
This week, a German cooperative savings bank in the Bavarian village of Gmund am Tegernsee -- population 5,767 -- said it’ll start charging retail customers to hold their cash. From September, for savings in excess of 100,000 euros ($111,710), the community’s Raiffeisen bank will take back 0.4 percent. That’s a direct pass through of the current level of the ECB’s negative deposit rate.