RBS will be the first UK bank to introduce negative interest rates

Negative rates on current accounts are making new fans: after the example of Raiffeisen Gmund, even the Royal Bank of Scotland, under pressure to the expansionary monetary policy of the Bank of England, will impose rates below zero on some types deposit.

From today, some large customers of the investment banking division will no longer maintain free cash as collateral in their accounts: a move that will result in a withdrawal for about 70 customers of the bank, owned by the British state for 73%. No change, at present, fot other accounts, personal and business.

Even Bank of Ireland announced that from October 10 will apply a levy of 0.1% on deposits of more than ten million Euros, or those whose owners possess multiple accounts at the same bank, regardless of their size.

As reported by the Institute Irish this decision is a direct consequence of the ECB's measures, in particular tightening to -0.4% for overnight deposit rates.

Even Postbank, one of the first institutes in Germany by number of customers, has decided for the turnaround: from November 1st only customers under 22 years  with minimum monthly revenue of EUR 3.000 will have access to a free checking account, while for all other account holders will be introduced various forms of commission. An online bank account, for example, will cost 3.9 euro per month whereas before, with a thousand euro monthly revenue, it was totally free.

According to Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown "we are still a long way from banks imposing negative interest rates on personal customers, though clearly the direction of travel is concerning for savers".

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