The ECB is once again paying decent interest on deposits to banks and savings banks.
In Germany, many institutes do not pass these on.
The savers are left behind.
Frankfurt/Main - For many years, the deposit of customer funds at the European Central Bank (ECB) was a negative business for banks and savings banks.
But those times are over.
In July 2022, the banks still had to pay 0.5 percent penalty interest to the ECB, they now receive interest of 2.5 percent.
This rate could increase even further.
German savers are giving away billions of euros: most banks and savings banks have not yet offered overnight interest rates
But this blessing is largely ignored by customers in Germany.
The
FAZ
reports , citing an investigation by the Berlin interest broker Raisin, which operates platforms such as Zinspilot and Weltsparen.
According to this, the credit institutions passed on less than one-thirtieth of the ECB interest rate hike to their customers.
According to the comparison portal Verivox, 321 out of 656 banks still do not offer overnight interest rates.
In the case of savings banks and Volksbanks, the share is still over 50 percent each.
The deposits of savers receive correspondingly low interest rates.
According to data from the Deutsche Bundesbank, the average interest rate on short-term deposits is 0.09 percent.
Because of the greater competition, according to Raisin, it is 0.19 percent for call money accounts.
German savers are giving away billions of euros: Banks and savings banks are making huge profits without risk
This means high, risk-free profits for banks and savings banks if they simply bring customer funds to the ECB.
Raisin makes the following calculation.
With sight deposits by Germans at the ECB amounting to 1.8 trillion euros, banks are left with 46 billion euros a year at an interest rate of 2.5 percent.
Of this, they only pass on 1.6 billion euros to their customers at an interest rate of 0.09 percent.
The difference from this, as 44.4 billion euros, is the interest income of the banks, from which, however, fees and costs still have to be deducted.
Purely based on overnight money, here 675 billion euros are stored in the corresponding accounts, the banks still make around 15 billion euros in interest profits a year at an interest rate of 0.19 percent.
It is rather unlikely that the banks will quickly adjust the interest rates for their customers to the EBZ interest rate.
"The banks are trying to hold on to the low interest rates and increase their profits as long as they can," Raisin boss Tamaz Georgadze told the
FAZ
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German savers have to take action: comparison portals show where high interest rates can be found
The customers of banks that keep their interest rates on deposits low have to take action themselves if they want better offers.
Interest rate comparison portals provide support.
According to FMH-Finanzberatung, there is an interest rate of 2.4 percent on overnight money for new customers at the Swedish TF Bank.
However, this only applies for four months and for a maximum of 100,000 euros.
The best offer for existing customers is currently offered by Trade Republic, where there are two percent interest on deposits of up to 50,000 euros.
According to FMH-Finanzberatung, Blu Or Bank has the best offer in the fixed-term deposit area.
The institute from Latvia offers 3.35 percent interest for a term of one year.
The maximum investment is 100,000 euros.