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Negative interest is a thing of the past:
99.9 percent of ING customers will no longer have to pay a custody fee from July
Photo: FRANCOIS LENOIR/ REUTERS
According to the bank, practically all private customers of ING Germany will no longer be subject to penalty interest in a few weeks.
As of July 1, 2022, the allowances for credit balances on current and overnight money accounts are to be increased from the current 50,000 to 500,000 euros per account, as the subsidiary of the major Dutch bank ING announced on Tuesday.
According to ING Germany, this eliminates the so-called custody fee for 99.9 percent of customers.
"We are keeping our promise to abolish the custody fee once the negative interest rates are eliminated for almost all customers before the European Central Bank makes a decision," said CEO
Nick Jue
(57).
The bank, which claims to have risen to become the third-largest bank in Germany under the name ING-DiBa with free and high-interest money market accounts, is also focusing on being able to retain customers.
"ING Germany expects that the increase in the allowances will also convince customers who have not yet agreed to the general terms and conditions including the custody fee, and that the bank will lose fewer customers than previously planned," it said in a statement
"If the interest rate environment continues to develop positively, we will also let our customers participate in this development," said CEO Jue.
However, he assumes that the low-interest phase will last for the time being.
trend reversal heralded
In view of the European Central Bank's (ECB) negative interest rate on deposits, which is currently 0.5 percent, numerous banks have introduced penalty interest rates.
According to its own statements, ING was one of the last financial institutions to take this step.
Under the pressure of the high rate of inflation, expectations have recently increased that the ECB, following the US Federal Reserve and other central banks, will soon also be raising interest rates.
The key interest rate is currently 0.0 percent.
ING said it was heralding a turnaround for almost all customers with the planned elimination of custody fees.
So far, only two smaller banks in Germany have announced that they will increase the allowances for private customers: the Oldenburgische Landesbank and the VR Bank.
hr/Reuters
