Negative bank rates: let's be clear

After the announcement that Unicredit will apply the negative bank rates on some current accounts of its customers (we speak of the accounts with deposits over 100 thousand euros) the apprehension of many of our readers is growing to the point that in several we have written to ask for a clarification in this regard. One of our readers asked us: Negative rates ??? I am interested in the subject of negative bank rates.

Negative bank rates

The indication of Jean Pierre Mustier, managing director of Unicredit, to apply the denied interest rates to customers also caused discussion but it certainly cannot be considered a bolt from the blue as it already applies in Switzerland and Denmark.

A tax on deposits is defined even if it is limited only to current accounts with high stock, it is difficult to carry out in Italy, especially in the short term.

Mustier's indications, among other things, were made in the name of Ebf and not Unicredit, should not be frightening in the short term. In Italy, in fact, there is still no mention of applying negative rates to the current accounts of customers who, among other things, have for several years had a return of zero if they are not tied.

Why does this measure seem difficult to apply in our country? This would put the banks and customers in difficulty, but also businesses and the territory and benefit from them would be only Poste Italiane, which would be ready to collect customers fleeing the banks.

The hypothesis, therefore, at the moment still appears very far in the realization even if the indication of Mustier has unleashed the panic among the customers of Unicredit.

Negative intersse rates: why?

What does Mustier refer to when he talks about the application of negative interest rates to current accounts with deposits exceeding 100 thousand euros? Where do the negative rates come from?

The ECB, in order to incentivize banks to lend money to customers, applies negative interest rates to the money deposited by the banks in the ECB (unpaid money, then). The proposal is to apply the negative rates applied by the ECB to customers with higher stocks to recover the lost amount. At the moment this policy in Italy does not apply but Mustier's indications have created some concerns.

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