ABN and ING are also offering interest on savings again

Two Dutch ‘big banks’ will again offer interest on savings. On Monday, both ING and ABN Amro announced that they would move from the current zero line from 1 December. Savers at ING receive 0.25 percent interest on savings of up to 10,000 euros. On every euro above that, savers will soon receive 0.15 percent interest, with the upper limit being 1 million euros.

ABN Amro goes a step further by offering all savers 0.25 percent interest up to 1 million euros. Business savers and private banking customers receive interest of up to 5 and 10 million euros respectively. The majority of savings account holders at the two banks therefore receive interest again on the entire amount saved – something that has not happened for years. Rabobank preceded ABN and ING last week. Customers at de Volksbank, which includes SNS, ASN Bank and Regiobank, have to be patient for a while.

Negative interest

Until this summer, after a few years without interest, there was even negative interest for many savers, whereby it cost money to have savings in the bank. Nevertheless, the Dutch continued to save, especially during the lockdown period of 2020. The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) calculated that the Dutch had saved a total of 362 billion euros at the beginning of last year. More than one in ten households had a ton or more in the bank.

Thanks to significant interest rate interventions by the ECB, negative interest rates have become a thing of the past since this summer. The central bank executives in Frankfurt raised interest rates by 0.75 percentage point – the largest interest rate jump ever. The consequences of this are clearly visible. Dozens of European financial institutions have been announcing higher interest rates in recent weeks for both savings accounts and savings deposits – locking savings at a fixed interest rate for a specified period of time. According to comparison site Geld.nl, no fewer than 23 European banks increased their interest rates on savings accounts and deposits in October.

Also read: If you are willing to lock up your money for a longer period of time, you can save abroad at interest

Memory of Icesave

So there is something to choose from for savers. If you want the highest interest rates, you will have to cross the border. Savings deposits at the Estonian Bigbank currently yield the highest interest for savers; Those who lock up their money for ten years receive 3 percent interest on it. Those who prefer to keep a savings account will receive 0.65 percent at the French Renault Bank – a significant difference with the 0.25 percent in the Netherlands.

Since the bankruptcy of the Icelandic online savings bank Icesave, consumers often wonder how safe foreign banks and their financial products are. When Icesave went bankrupt in 2008, savers lost their saved assets above 100,000 euros. “But on the other hand, everyone up to 100,000 euros did get their money back,” said a spokesperson for the Consumers’ Association. Deposit guarantee schemes ensure that savers in EU countries are assured that they will get a large part of their money back should a bank ever fail.

The Consumers’ Association advises those who want to save abroad to check whether the bank is located in an EU country and whether payment is made with the euro. “If you save in Sweden and the Swedish currency falls against the euro, it can also cost you money.” According to the spokesperson, there are no signs that the Dutch are massively choosing to place their savings abroad. “We have received more questions about saving from journalists than from consumers.”

Correction (24 October 2022): An earlier version of this article stated that savers at ING receive 0.25 percent interest on savings of up to 100,000 euros. This is incorrect and has been corrected above.