Spanish banks pay 0% on deposits while rivals offer over 3%

Savers denounce 0% at major banks while others exceed 3%

Why is money remunerated at 4% in Italy while the same deposit sleeps at zero in Spain? The comparison circulating in the thread is stubborn. In Italy, deposits from accessible banks via apps, such as Banca Sistema, are cited at 4.4%, and in the United Kingdom, with official rates of 5.25%, the government has asked institutions to pass this level on to household deposits. In Spain, according to complaints in the debate, major banks keep accounts at 0% and clients pay fees. The most repeated explanation has nothing to do with solvency or risk: there is no competition here.

How much does each bank pay for deposits?

The map is uneven. Deutsche Bank offers a deposit at 12 months at 3.40% and 6 months at 3.30% in branches. Bankinter and Banca March exceed 3% for one year and Cajamar hovers around 2.9%. In online banking, Pibank pays 3.3%, Facto offered up to 4% and Renault Bank remunerates at 2.63%, with rate revisions. ING Spain has offered 3.75% for three months. The comparison, ordered by highest yield, looks like this:

• Banca Sistema (Italy): 4.4%
• ING Spain (3 months): 3.75%
• Deutsche Bank (12 months): 3.40%
• Pibank: 3.3%
• Cajamar: 2.9%
• Renault Bank: 2.63%

Against this, it is argued that major banks keep checking accounts at zero and reserve deposits at 2.5% for VIP clients and large companies. Some argue the offer exists but is hidden: it is not advertised, it is negotiated when the client threatens to leave. The detail of who pays what and with what term, broken down by entity, makes for an afternoon of uncomfortable comparisons.

Why don't Spanish banks pay interest on deposits?

Because they don't need to attract money they already have inside. A checking account is today a practical requirement: without it you cannot receive your salary, direct debit bills, pay rent or close certain purchases. This de facto obligation, several analyses sustain, spares the bank the work of competing. If the liability is already there, the rate paid for it tends to zero by definition.

Added to this is a profile of immobile savers. There are those describing accounts with 100,000, 200,000 or 300,000 euros sitting idle in a checking account for years, while the same family argues about salaries of 1,200 euros. Idle money does not negotiate. And he who does not negotiate, does not get paid.

The bank tax and 2% commissions

The most widespread thesis among critics of the official narrative points to the Tax on Extraordinary Profits of Banks: what institutions should pay to the saver would be kept by the Treasury, a participant argues. It is a hypothesis difficult to quantify and there is no public breakdown that closes it, but it fits with a repeated data point: while deposits remain at zero, the Champions League banks continue charging maintenance fees and up to 2% annually on assets in some products, according to another user.

Another reading circulating in the thread points to the savers themselves: if they moved surpluses from their 0% accounts to accounts or deposits with yield, banks would already offer interest.

The flight of 25.6 billion from fixed-term deposits

Money is starting to move. Companies and savers have withdrawn 25.6 billion euros from fixed-term deposits in a year, according to shared figures, and analysts expect this hemorrhage to force major banks to raise interest rates sooner than expected. The test case is simple: someone closes their mother's account with 50,000 euros at Openbank to take it to a 3% deposit; the bank reacts by offering to keep her at 2.75%. The reaction arrives just when the client has the door open.

The pattern repeats with mobile phones: improvement does not appear until a decision is made. The difference is that here there is no portability worth having.

Can you contract a foreign bank deposit via app?

Yes, and that is the route many are using. Within the app of some entities appears a section of deposit markets with products from banks in other countries: the case of Banca Sistema, in Italy, at 4.4% has been cited. The catch is the same as always: the average saver doesn't trust an entity without a branch in their neighborhood, and prefers the devil you know. After what peine with other intervened entities, antiestéticar has its logic.

So the photo left by the thread is clear. While deposits at 4.4% are cited in Italy, for many participants major banks keep Spanish savings at zero and charge commissions for the privilege. It is called market. Whether it works for both sides is an opinion.