Germans are withdrawing their life savings and parking their money in safes at home. Germans are savers by nature and despite interest rates being slashed to zero have continued to save. Historically, Germans deemed savings accounts as safe and secure. Recently, however, many have lost faith.
Following the ECB’s decision to take interest rates below zero, savers now face the real prospect of being charged to deposit money with their bank. In fact, a small German bank in Bavaria has already started to charge customers 0.4% on all balances over 100,000 euros. In a country where few buy stocks and ...