The dam has long since broken when it comes to penalty interest. In the meantime, banks have announced almost every week how far they are going to reduce the limit to which they will not charge any fees for savings that customers park in their accounts.
Most recently, it was the direct bank DKB that made the headlines: At the BayernLB subsidiary, new customers must now pay a negative interest rate of 0.5 percent for amounts in excess of 25,000 euros on their current and overnight accounts.
It is therefore clear: penalty interest on savings has long ceased to be an issue that only affects wealthy customers with excess millions. Even people who regularly set aside manageable amounts of money, the famous nest egg, will in future have to think more carefully about how to distribute this skillfully to different accounts and, if in doubt, to different banks. “Bank hopping” is the order of the day.
Loyalty to one’s own financial institution, if it ever existed, is further undermined as a result. Banks and savings banks – which in the private customer business have already been struggling with ever new competitors from the fintech camp – ultimately alienate those customers who will need them again at some point when the interest rate environment normalizes and the classic banking business functions again. And that still basically means: earning more with borrowed money than you would normally pay on customer savings deposits.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
There is still no doubt that every euro of excess liquidity costs financial institutions money. But the world of zero interest rates will end in the medium term, and the first central banks, above all the Fed, are slowly turning around. And if the forecasts of economists are correct, then the corona pandemic is likely to be followed not only by a rapid European, but also a global economic upturn. This means that the lending business will very likely also pick up again: with corporate customers who invest more and with private customers who consume more.
If everyone is out of cover, banks are required to provide the necessary capital. The private customer as a cheap source of refinancing could then suddenly become interesting again – if he is still there.
More: Bad prospects for savers – more than 500 banks are already charging negative interest rates