Status: 04/09/2022 12:47 p.m
Anyone who does not agree to negative interest rates for high deposits is threatened with bank termination. Several financial institutions have already thrown out wealthy customers. But the big wave of layoffs could still come – for small savers.
Now several banks are taking action: A year after the Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf, other financial institutions have also terminated wealthy customers who did not want to accept negative interest, the so-called custody fees for credit balances in their accounts. For example, Postbank ended business relationships with several customers who had balances of more than EUR 50,000.
According to a Deutsche Bank spokesman, these are just a few isolated cases. “To our regret, we have to end the banking relationship with the few customers who, after completing a multi-stage approach process, did not want to agree on a suitable investment alternative or a custody fee with us,” he said tagesschau.de. He did not want to give an exact number of affected customers. So far, however, an amicable solution has been found with most of the customers.
Postbank and Dortmunder Sparkasse terminate individual customers
The Sparkasse Dortmund has also terminated more than a dozen customers because of the custody fees. The “Handelsblatt” reports 15 cases. A year ago, the Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf threw out two dozen wealthy customers who did not want to accept penalty interest on current and call money accounts.
Other institutes are threatening their customers with termination. ING, for example, is considering such measures in the coming weeks for customers who do not accept the new terms and conditions on custody fees. “In the case of a low four-digit number of customers who have not agreed even after repeated reminders, we will now take this step and terminate them in April with a reasonable period of notice,” said a spokesman for the direct bank at the request of tagesschau.de. Other financial institutions such as Commerzbank or Berliner Sparkasse are still waiting and relying on amicable solutions.
Consumer advocates warn of unprofitable alternatives
The consumer advocates warn of “expensive and risky alternatives so that no custody fee is due”. The products offered are often not tailored to needs, says Niels Nauhauser, financial expert at the consumer center in Baden-Württemberg. “They are usually too expensive due to the high costs, so that in the current interest rate environment hardly any positive returns can be expected.” Nauhauser: “The financial institutions use the threatening backdrop of custody fees and recently also the high inflation rate to sell investment products such as mixed funds, standardized asset management and private pension insurance to those seeking advice, for which they receive high commissions.” If you want to avoid negative interest rates, you will quickly end up in the commission trap of the banks.
More and more banks and savings banks are demanding custody fees from their customers. According to a recent evaluation, 449 of around 1,300 institutes now charge negative interest above certain amounts on an overnight money or current account. Consumer advocates consider the custody fees to be inadmissible. Two courts have agreed with them. The district court of Berlin and also the district court of Düsseldorf declared custody fees to be inadmissible under certain conditions. The regional courts in Leipzig and Tübingen, on the other hand, have no objections to custody fees. The legal situation is therefore still unclear.
Soon no more custody fees?
The possible turnaround in interest rates could, of course, soon make the discussion superfluous. Several institutions have announced that they will abolish their custody fees if the European Central Bank (ECB) ends its penalty interest for banks. “As soon as the ECB ends its negative interest rate policy, we will withdraw the custody fee for our private customers,” promises ING. That’s not difficult either, says consumer advocate Nauhauser. In many custody agreements, the custody fee is linked to the interest rate of the ECB. “If the ECB interest rate rises to zero, the custody fee is automatically waived.”
“The situation could soon ease up when it comes to custody fees,” believes banking expert Hans-Peter Burghof from the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim. On the other hand, there should continue to be a large number of terminations by customers who, after last year’s ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on the reimbursement of fees, do not accept the banks’ new terms and conditions (GTC). “The banks will not fight for their custody fees, but all the more for their general terms and conditions,” said Burghof tagesschau.de.
Many small savings are now threatened with termination
At many banks, only around 70 percent of customers have currently agreed to the new terms and conditions. Now they work off the remaining 30 percent. The banks will announce terminations when an approval rate of 85 to 95 percent has been reached, says Oliver Mihm, head of the banking consulting firm Investors Marketing. He anticipates increasing layoffs. But it won’t be a big, brutal wave of layoffs, he says.
Some institutes are still waiting. For example, Postbank is giving its GiroPlus customers who have not yet agreed to the terms and conditions until June. A mid-five-digit number of Postbank customers with a Giro-plus account have received a new product offering that “is no more expensive than our previous product offerings with the same service, account number and IBAN,” said a spokesman for Deutsche Bank tagesschau.de request. So far, more than 90 percent of Postbank, Deutsche Bank and Norisbank customers have agreed to the new terms and conditions, the spokesman emphasized.
Overall, however, there should be a lot of movement in the German private customer business in the next few months. “Many customers will switch banks,” predicts bank expert Burghof.