In Slovenia, there is a high probability that money storage fees will be introduced, which was confirmed a few days ago by Blaz Brodnjak, the first man of the Slovenian NLB, which recently bought Komercijalna Banka.
He told the local media that this will probably be introduced gradually for cash deposits of more than 100,000 euros. NLB does not intend to introduce them for lower amounts. The reason is that, after closing, deposits were increased “because people have nowhere to spend their money and deposit it in banks.”
For us, this news would not have been important if NLB had not become the owner of the domestic state-owned Komercijalna Banka, in which the largest amount of savings of over two billion euros was deposited. Is such a scenario possible with us?
Hard. It is unlikely that NLB, immediately after the purchase, would decide on such an unpopular move. And even if it did that, 8,736 roles of citizens whose amount is higher than 100,000 euros would be affected. That is 0.2 percent of the total number of savings parties.
Zoran Grubisic, a professor at the Belgrade Banking Academy, says that he does not believe that in the foreseeable future, banks in Serbia will charge a fee for keeping money, if for no other reason, then for psychological reasons, because they risk losing depositors.
– Times are like that and interest rates are low. When consumption decreases, savings increase. That is why banks are too liquid and have money that they really do not need. In the case of dinar savings, we are far from the scenario that banks charge a deposit for money, as they say in our country, because the reference interest rate of the NBS is one percent, so it is not negative. As for foreign exchange, I know that many banks are already charging interest of 0.05 percent on the current account in euros, and from that amount it is easy to go to the negative zone – Grubisic thinks.
And what do they say in the National Bank?
It is not disputed that banks, in conducting their business policy, are significantly exposed to the movements on the world financial market, and especially to the monetary policy measures of the European Central Bank, including negative basic interest rates.
– In addition, the NBS has taken the position that in the conditions of our financial system it is not justified to advocate the application of negative interest rates or other fees that would negatively affect the savings of citizens, but also corporate deposits with banks. Such an attitude is based on the fact that savings are the most important source of credit activity in our country, and that domestic banks have a special responsibility to prevent negative interest rate trends in international markets from adversely affecting the provision of adequate financial services to businesses and households stability of the financial system. In accordance with their business policy, domestic banks have retained their traditional functions of accepting deposits and lending, so that interest rates on foreign currency savings are constantly in the positive zone – they say in the central bank.
They also point out that banks are obliged to comply with the law, the principles of the law of obligations and contracts in their operations, including contracting deposits with individuals. The Central Bank, in the realization of its legal authority related to the protection of users of financial services, provides special legal treatment and legal protection to citizens as users of financial services and depositors.
– The NBS expects that banks will continue to pursue a sustainable and responsible business policy in the coming period, which includes the improvement of deposit operations and the preservation or increase of the depository base. In that sense, as an institution responsible for preserving and strengthening the stability of the financial system, the NBS will react if the need arises and will not allow any bank that already operates in the domestic market or a foreign bank that comes to our market to disturb in any way achieved financial stability and jeopardizes the savings system in our country – they say for Politika.
