Deutsche Kreditbank AG (DKB) is changing its list of prices and services on November 10, 2021 and introducing a custody fee of 0.5 percent per year for balances of more than EUR 25,000.

The custody fee will apply to all newly opened current and overnight accounts as well as credit cards from that day, the bank said.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in business.

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The unusual thing about it: only recently, the subsidiary of Bayerische Landesbank lowered the limit to 50,000 euros.

In August it was said that new customers would be required to pay a custody fee of 0.5 percent for balances of more than 50,000 euros on current and overnight accounts from September 1st.

Previously, the tax exemption was 100,000 euros.

Existing customers with particularly high deposits should also be contacted in order to agree a custody fee with them.

Due to falling interest margins and significantly increasing deposits, they see themselves forced to pass the negative interest rate of the European Central Bank more on to customers, said a bank spokesman.

Comparatively low allowance

“It is our declared goal to keep the costs for our customers as low as possible. After careful examination, the renewed lowering of the tax exemption is inevitable in order to react adequately to the developments caused by the long-term low interest rate environment and the negative deposit interest rate of the ECB ”, said Maren Heiss, Head of Private Customer Business at DKB. Sascha Dewald, Head of Private Customer Business at DKB: "The increasing sight deposits on current and overnight accounts are, on the one hand, an excellent vote of confidence in the stability of the DKB;

Almost 520 banks and savings banks calculate negative interest rates on private assets according to figures from the Internet portal Biallo, in corporate banking there are around 550 institutes.

Several of the larger banks had recently reduced their allowances for negative interest to 50,000 euros.

At 25,000 euros, the DKB limit is now comparatively low.

But there are also various smaller institutes that already work with even lower limits or even without any tax exemptions.

“At least 150 banks limit the exemption for the total deposit per customer to 50,000 euros or less,” writes the Internet portal Verivox.