(22 May 2014 – United Kingdom) HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank plans to start charging other banks for depositing money in currencies of countries that have negative interest rates.
In doing so, HSBC will join a number of other European and United States’ lenders to charge peers for holding deposits, passing on the cost of holding money where interest rates are negative.
The move is expected to affect deposits from banks in euros, Swiss francs, Danish crowns and Swedish crowns.
“HSBC charges banks for deposits they hold with us in currencies where negative interest rates apply.
“Banks affected have been notified and we continue to monitor the situation,” HSBC said.
It will start applying the charges in August.