If you think the rich get all the perks, think again. At least in Germany, that’s not true, and citizens have Raiffeisenbank Gmund, a small cooperative bank in the Bavarian Alps, to thank.
The bank, which is located in an area that is home to lots of rich actors and sports stars, is charging its wealthy customers to deposit money at the bank. According to Reuters, which cited an unnamed board member, clients will face a custody charge of 0.4 percent for deposit accounts over €100,000 ($112,000). With the accounts, the money can be taken out at any time.
“We have written to all large depositors and recommended that they think things over. If you don’t create an incentive to change things, then things don’t change,” board member Josef Paul said in the report.
The report noted that several banks have passed on the European Central Bank’s negative deposit rate to their big commercial customers, but this is the first time wealthy individuals are being charged. The ECB has embraced a negative deposit rate to get banks to lend in hopes it will stimulate the economy. Banks want their customers to move away from deposit accounts and move into other financial products as a way to get things going.
“We don’t believe retail banking will see widespread application of negative rates in Germany, not least because of the intense competitive situation in the German banking market,” BVR, Germany’s cooperative banking association, said in the report. The association doesn’t expect other banks that accept deposits to follow in the footsteps of Raiffeisenbank Gmund.
Raiffeisenbank Gmund isn’t a big cooperative lender and is one of the country’s smaller ones. It has six branches in the country and boasts total assets of around €145 million. It has a large amount of deposits, and it has only been able to move part of that into loans.
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