The turnaround in interest rates is also having an impact on interest rates on call money.

Interest rates are rising at the first banks, albeit from an extremely low level.

The consumer portal Biallo reports that the so-called Biallo index for call money - an average of almost 40 call money accounts reported to the portal - has almost doubled in the past few days from 0.05 to 0.09 percent.

The highest interest rates in the call money table are now a good 0.4 percent.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in Business.

  • Follow I follow

In historical comparison, this is still ridiculously little.

And savers continue to lose purchasing power when they take advantage of such savings offers, after allowing for inflation of more than 7 percent.

But obviously there is some movement in the market before the planned first interest rate hike by the European Central Bank on July 21st.

Many banks are abolishing negative interest rates

The intriguing question: Will the banks' resistance to deposits, which has been seen in drastic ways in recent years, turn to banks once again wooing customer deposits?

Dirk Schiereck, banking professor in Darmstadt, says: "My impression is that some banks would like to attract more deposits again."

As of July 1st, a number of banks initially abolished negative interest rates on call money.

Among them is ING Germany, which has increased its allowance for negative interest to EUR 500,000 and pays a minimum interest rate of 0.001 percent below that.

A spokesman said that depending on the market development, they wanted to offer positive savings rates again "if possible this year".

Some institutes had completely abolished call money accounts for new customers during the low-interest phase and are now relaunching them;

including 1822direkt, the direct bank subsidiary of Frankfurter Sparkasse, as the Internet portal Verivox reported on Thursday.

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have initially announced that they will abolish their negative interest rates once the ECB has raised the key interest rate accordingly.

On the other hand, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, based in Garching near Munich, has taken a first interest rate step from negative to positive.

It is a specialist bank for real estate financing and public investment financing and refinances itself through deposit transactions and the issuance of mortgage bonds.

With its Pbb Direct offering, it is also aimed at private savers.

"They canceled the custody fee on July 1st and since then have been offering an overnight money account with an interest rate of 0.15 percent per year," says Sebastian Schick from Biallo.

Not much, but still.

At least 0.41 percent at Bank on Malta

Various foreign banks are already tempting again with higher overnight interest rates.

FCM Bank of Malta is now at the top of the call money table.

The institute received its banking license in 2010 and, according to the ECB, is one of 16 smaller banks in Malta that operate alongside three large ones.

It advertises 0.41 percent interest on call money for new and existing customers.

The Bigbank from Estonia follows directly behind with 0.35 percent, also for new and existing customers.

Deposits of up to EUR 100,000 are protected at both institutes by the respective national deposit insurance.

In third place are Advanzia Bank from Luxembourg and Bank 11, a German bank from Neuss specializing in sales and purchase financing for the motor vehicle trade.

The latter advertises online with a photo of a piggy bank in a deck chair and the slogan: "Cash money feeling - secure our sunny interest rates." Both institutes lure with 0.3 percent interest - which is only available for new customers, guaranteed for three months .

The interest rate then falls back to the existing customer level of 0.01 or 0.05 percent.

The pioneer of this model was Renault Bank Direkt, which introduced a promotional interest rate for new customers in April: their 0.2 percent is also guaranteed for three months, after which the variable interest rate for existing customers of currently 0.05 percent applies.

Are the promotional offers worth it?

Opinions differ as to whether it is wise to transfer your money to a country with higher risks because of slightly higher overnight interest rates.

Niels Nauhauser, financial expert at the Baden-Württemberg Consumer Advice Center, is skeptical: "The only reason savers don't have to worry about the risk of default is as long as they limit the investment amount to EUR 100,000 per institution and select an institution with statutory German deposit insurance.

These offers are equally safe.” However, there is no uniform deposit insurance within the European Union.

Only national deposit insurance pots are provided, and their actual reliability depends less on the amount of reserves and more on the political will and financial strength of the respective state,

From the investors' perspective, this political will to compensate all investors at home and abroad is uncertain.

In addition, it is uncertain whether the federal states will actually have the necessary funds if necessary, says Nauhauser: "Due to these risks, we advise investors who value security to only make deposits that are secured by the statutory German compensation scheme."