Decisions by the European Central Bank and the SNB, prompt Julius Baer to lift negative rates for certain client deposits.
Following actions by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Swiss National Bank to hike their respective policy rates by 50 basis points Swiss private bank Julius Baer is changing its policy on what it charges its clients, the bank announced on Friday.
Julius Baer said that as of August 1, it will no longer charge clients negative interest rates on deposits denominated in euro, Swiss francs, and Danish krone.
The bank said that «in a persistent negative interest rate environment, Julius Baer has been applying negative interest rates to client cash holdings in these currencies.» But that has now changed.
New Policy Rates
To tame persistent and stubbornly high inflation, the ECB raised its policy rate to 0 percent yesterday, while the SNB raised its rate to -0.25 percent from -0.75 percent effective June 17. The SNB also adjusted the threshold factor used to calculate the level of banks’ sight deposits at the SNB exempt from negative interest, which took effect July 1.
To be sure, Julius Baer isn't the first bank to scrap negative rates on policy but is another indication that the era of charging negative rates is coming to a close.
