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The corona crisis is causing Germans' savings to rise to a record level: In the third quarter alone, deposits parked at German banks rose by around 29 billion euros, according to an analysis by Hamburg-based fintech company Deposit Solutions.
It is based on data from the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Statistical Office, Eurostat and Barkow Consulting.
Across Europe, savers put as much as never before in the third quarter of the year with a net 82 billion euros;
the German share was the largest at 36 percent.
The second largest savers in the euro zone are the French and Italians.
The three countries are the most populous in the currency area, but their deposit volume is growing disproportionately.
Germany, France and Italy represent 65 percent of the euro zone deposit market and are responsible for 83 percent of this year's net deposits.
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Overall, since the beginning of the year, Europeans have paid 400 billion euros more into their bank accounts than they withdrew - that is already more than in 2019 as a whole, when it was 396 billion euros.
In terms of the total volume of savings deposits, the Germans are also at the top: 31 percent of all deposits at Eurozone banks are held by German institutions.
Since Europeans usually park their money at domestic banks, the dates and nationalities of the savers are practically identical.
Pandemic-related savings frenzy
The record numbers send mixed signals: on the one hand, despite all the national differences in saving behavior, Europeans are better equipped to deal with financial bottlenecks.
On the other hand, not surprisingly, the savagery is based on the pandemic-induced, partial shutdown of the economy, in particular of the retail, gastronomy and tourism sectors.
Another problem: banks in the euro zone have to park their excess liquidity with the ECB and pay so-called penalty interest for it;
currently 0.5 percent of the deposited amount.
The ECB is raising interest rates to encourage banks to lend and thus stimulate the euro area economy.
And: there is hardly any return on the savings accounts because of the ultra-low interest rates.
Nonetheless, Germans in particular are less confident than others in investing in supposedly risky assets, such as stocks.
Tim Sievers, Head of Deposit Solutions, considers the fact that so few savers in Europe invest across borders as problematic with a view to the banks.
"You cannot benefit from the higher demand for savings products in other countries." The European banks should cooperate more closely in the deposit business.
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