VR-Bank Fürstenfeldbruck: Negative interest is no longer applicable with immediate effect

Created: 07/23/2022, 09:09

By: Sabine Kuhn

Negative interest (symbol image) © IMAGO/McPHOTO

The era of negative interest came to an end on Friday – at least at VR-Bank Fürstenfeldbruck.

Fürstenfeldbruck – “The ECB raised the key interest rate on Thursday, and we are making adjustments today.

We were prepared," said board member Robert Fedinger on Friday.

"We're glad it's over." At the beginning of the phase of so-called custody fees, VR-Bank Fürstenfeldbruck hit the headlines across Germany.

In January 2019, the dpa press agency reported that the bank was the first to introduce negative interest – starting with the first euro.

TV crews and other national media were queuing up.

"The first few days were tough," said bank boss Fedinger.

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In fact, the Brucker financial institution only charged negative interest for new customers, who often only switched there in order not to have to pay elsewhere, where custody fees had long been in place.

When that was made clear in the regional newspapers, the mood changed.

"Our customers thought it was good that we put up a protective shield for their existing systems." The bottom line is that investors thanked VR-Bank Fürstenfeldbruck with an additional 300 million deposits.

Most recently, customers with a balance of 200 million were affected by a total of 1500 million deposits.

After deducting the allowances, Brucker Bank calculated negative interest on 142 million euros.

About a third was accounted for by private customers.

According to Fedinger, it was not just the pure sum that was considered.

"It also played a role whether the customers had mortgages from us." No distinction was made between companies and private individuals.

"We had to pay the Bundesbank for the parked money, they didn't care who it came from."

You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.