The direct bank ING practically abolishes negative interest rates. That should have a signal effect on the industry. Four banks had already significantly increased their allowances, which protect against an account being debited. Several large financial institutions are likely to follow.
Germany’s largest direct bank is pushing ahead and, according to its own statements, will de facto abolish negative interest rates for the majority of its private customers on July 1st. Accordingly, the allowances for credit balances on current and call money accounts will be increased from the current 50,000 to 500,000 euros per account. This is good news for almost all ING customers.
How negative interest rates will continue for other bank customers will also depend on the next interest rate decisions by the European Central Bank. According to the comparison portal Verivox, four other banks have already significantly increased their allowances in the last two weeks. As if there were:
PSD Bank Kiel
New: EUR 100,000 allowance on the call money account and EUR 50,000 on the current account. Old: 50,000 euros in the call money account and 10,000 euros in the current account.
Oldenburg State Bank
New: 500,000 euros (negative interest is calculated on the entire balance if the exemption limit is exceeded). Old allowance: 100,000 euros.
Sparkasse Aschaffenburg-Alzenau
New allowance: 100,000 euros. Old allowance: 50,000 euros.
Volksbank Stendal
New allowance: 100,000 euros. Old allowance: 25,000 euros.
“The tenfold increase in the tax-free allowance at ING is a clear signal to the entire industry. Bank customers who do not have an account with the direct bank could also benefit indirectly from this. When large banks improve their conditions, the pressure on the competitors to actively participate also increases It is therefore quite possible that other banks will follow suit in the next few days and weeks and also increase the allowances. However, banks continued to introduce negative interest rates or tightened their conditions during the same period. So there was still a uniform market trend towards relaxation to this day not,” says Oliver Maier, Managing Director of Verivox Finanzvergleich GmbH.
However, several large banks have announced that they will reduce negative interest rates for their customers if the central bank exits its negative interest rate policy. At a considerable number of banks, the negative interest rates are then even reduced automatically. Because at these institutions, the custody fee in the price list is expressly linked to the deposit rate of the ECB.
The financial portal Biallo.de followed up with 22 banks and received quite encouraging answers on how to proceed with the negative interest rates. Here you are:
German Pharmacist and Medical Bank:
“As soon as the ECB ends its negative interest rate policy, we will no longer charge any fees.”
Commerzbank:
“As soon as the interest rates reach the zero line, we will reduce the credit fees.”
Deutsche Bank
“In the event that the deposit facility rate is zero or greater, then there will be no retail custody fee.”
Dortmund Volksbank
“Of course, if the ECB sets the negative deposit rate to zero, we will remove the custody fee.”
Frankfurter Sparkasse
“Basically, when designing the terms of the custody fee, both in the private and in the commercial sector, we are guided by the ECB’s deposit rate.”
Frankfurt Volksbank
“The contractual provisions stipulate that the amount of the custody fee is directly linked to the interest rate of the ECB and is adjusted accordingly if the ECB changes.”
Hamburger Sparkasse
“Should the ECB’s deposit rate change, we would adjust our terms accordingly.”
District Savings Bank Cologne
“As soon as the ECB’s deposit facility has an interest rate of zero, there is no custody fee.”
Central Brandenburg Savings Bank
“We said from the beginning that we would only charge a custody fee above the exemption limits for as long as we were charged for it ourselves.”
nassauische savings Bank
“Our current custody fee agreements are based on the interest rate of the deposit facility of the European Central Bank. It follows that we no longer collect a custody fee if the reference interest rate reaches or exceeds the zero line again.”
Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden
“Should the interest rate situation change – which we monitor very closely – we will adjust the conditions for our customers accordingly.”
Sparda Bank Munich
“The custody fee is linked one-to-one to the ECB’s deposit facility rate, so we pass the ECB’s adjustment on to the customer. If the deposit facility goes to zero, no custody fee will be charged.”
Sparda Bank Southwest
“We have always made the statement that the custody fee is only used to compensate for the cooperative community. We have already discussed a deletion in the bank.”
Sparda Bank West
“We are monitoring interest rate developments very closely. But only when the ECB actually sets the negative interest rates for banks to zero will we examine the consequences of this development in our customer business.”
Sparkasse Hanover
“If the reference interest rate is zero, our affected customers no longer pay a custody fee.”
Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw
“If the ECB takes action, we will react accordingly.”
Volksbank Mittelhessen
“Volksbank Mittelhessen will no longer charge any custody fees once the deposit facility has been adjusted to zero percent in retail and corporate customer business.”
Volksbank Stuttgart
“As soon as the ECB raises the deposit rate to zero percent or higher, Volksbank Stuttgart will not charge a custody fee either.”
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