Negative Interest Rates Fail to Deter Danish Savers

Danish bank deposits have risen nearly 20 percent since the central bank first cut its benchmark rate below zero, back in July 2012, with households now holding an average of 191,000 kroner ($28,870) in their bank accounts. According to Mira Lie Nielsen at Nykredit, there are two possible explanations for this seemingly irrational behavior: high dividends payments and tax reimbursements, as well as a change in attitudes. “Danes like the security that a larger sum of money in the account provides” and possibly pay closer attention to the impact of consumption on the environment, Nielsen wrote in a note.