Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf made headlines nationwide in 2021 and 2022.

The public-law institute threatened wealthy customers who did not want to pay negative interest with account termination.

Archibald Preuschat

Editor in Business

  • Follow I follow

The vast majority of customers gave in, sometimes at the last minute.

But the balance of 10 customers with 11 accounts ended up in the district court.

A total of 3.13 million euros are stored there for 30 years.

"We prefer to leave the money where it is," replies Karin-Brigitte Göbel.

The chairwoman of the board cannot yet identify any capital outflows at Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf.

And the institute from the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital also pays interest again.

At least to institutional clients and the public sector.

By individual agreement, says Göbel, without going into detail.

problems with the pace

A task force is currently working on how private savers can also benefit from the turnaround in interest rates.

The Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf, true to the slogan of its boss "We don't want to run ahead", takes its time.

In the opinion of the head of the savings banks, however, the European Central Bank (ECB) took too much time with the interest rate turnaround.

"My wish would have been if the turnaround in interest rates had started earlier and had taken place in smaller steps," she says of the FAZ. The 64-year-old chooses her words carefully, as she is also a member of the advisory board of the Deutsche Bundesbank in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The pace of the turnaround in interest rates has caused problems for savings banks throughout the country.

They hold many bonds in their own portfolio until maturity, the value of which has now fallen due to the rise in yields.

The Düsseldorfer Stadtsparkasse got off with a black eye.

“From the current perspective, we have a moderate valuation result, but we have lost some of our hidden reserves.

And we had considerable hidden reserves,” says Göbel.

Another exciting business model

She still thinks the turnaround in interest rates is right.

“Now our business model is getting exciting again.

We live from the margin from lending and savings interest as well as commission income, for example from securities trading.

As a savings bank, however, we have no income from investment banking.”

The head of the Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf also shows a certain understanding for the ECB's position in the targeted longer-term refinancing transactions, abbreviated to TLTRO in English.

The ECB wanted to use them to boost lending during the low-interest phase by paying banks interest under certain conditions if they borrowed money from the central bank.

With the turnaround in interest rates, however, the ECB changed the conditions so that they are only less attractive.

"Of the 2 billion euros raised, the Stadtsparkasse has now repaid 1.5 billion euros."

Changed rules of the game

"Of course it's not right to change the rules of the game afterwards.

On the other hand, the targeted longer-term refinancing transactions were a support in a special market situation, and this is no longer the case,” says Göbel.

Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf intends to refrain from taking measures against the ECB.

Other banks had considered this.

At the end of September, Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf had loans totaling around EUR 11 billion, of which EUR 4.9 billion went to private customers and EUR 5.9 billion to commercial customers.

"So far we have not noticed any increased need for credit, neither among our private customers nor in the corporate sector." There is also no significant number of insolvencies among their corporate customers.

But Göbel asks himself whether it will stay that way.

"Never before has the 5th quarter" - i.e. the time between the end of the year and the closing of the books for the 2022 financial year - "been so exciting.

Our customers will only face the greatest burdens in January.”