Current account, cash, overnight money – savers in Germany have clear favorites when it comes to investing money. But many people cannot put anything aside at all.
According to a survey, almost one in five adults in Germany does not want to or cannot put money aside. Almost 18 percent of the 2,140 people surveyed by YouGov for Postbank answered the question where their savings are.
About a third of the almost 1,600 survey participants who say they have savings forego interest on a large part of their money: because they leave it in a current account – which usually does not bear interest – (23.3 percent) or keep it as cash (6.9 percent).
Almost a third (32.1 percent) of savers invest the majority of their savings in interest-bearing investments. By far the most popular are call money accounts (15.5 percent), where funds can be quickly transferred if necessary.
Many investors change banks for higher savings interest rates
Many investors want to remain flexible so that they can switch to another bank if better interest rates are offered: 6.9 percent of the 1,596 savers in the survey said they would switch even if the interest rates were only slightly higher. A good third (34.1 percent) would transfer money to an account at another institution if the savings interest rates there were significantly higher.
Since the end of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) zero interest rate policy in summer 2022 and the subsequent series of ten interest rate hikes, competition among credit institutions for savings deposits has intensified again. Banks and savings banks are now making money again when they park money with the central bank. Recently, however, a number of financial institutions have, for example, lowered their fixed-term deposit conditions again, as it is generally expected that the ECB will lower key interest rates in the euro area again in June.
According to the YouGov survey for Postbank, around 12 percent remain loyal to their bank even when there are better competitive offers because, according to their own statements, the level of interest on savings is not important to them. A good quarter (25.6 percent) answered that changing banks would be “too annoying” for them.
Source: Stern
