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German Lenders Pass Pain of Negative Rates to Retail Clients

  • Second largest cooperative bank now charging private customers
  • Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank signalled willingness to act
Berliner Volksbank

Photographer: ullstein bild/Getty Images

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A growing number of German banks are passing on negative interest rates to their retail customers as the costs become too high to bear on their own.

Berliner Volksbank, the country’s second-largest cooperative lender, started to apply a minus 0.5% rate on deposits exceeding 100,000 euros ($110,000) in its first charge for retail clients. The move may encourage other lenders to follow suit, with both Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG signaling that they’re warming to the idea.