Aegon stops offering savings account

Aegon Bank will stop offering savings accounts because it would simply no longer be profitable. The bank Informed her customers on Thursday about this decision. Savers have until September to withdraw their money, after which the bank will close all accounts. The bank will continue to offer savings accounts through its online subsidiary Knab.

Since last autumn, Aegon Bank has stopped accepting new savings and deposit customers, but the bank assured its customers that the savings accounts would continue to exist. However, the bank soon decided to lower the limit for negative savings interest rates to €100,000. Other banks followed suit to make savers pay half a percent interest above a ton.

'Savings account does not cover costs'

Now Aegon is throwing in the towel. According to a spokesperson for the bank, savings rates have been historically low for a long time and are expected to remain so for the foreseeable future. "Due to the policy of the European Central Bank (ECB), we have to pay for the savings that customers deposit with us. As a result, we can no longer offer Aegon Savings at a cost-effective level."

In 2019, Aegon transferred its banking activities to Knab, but continued to offer savings accounts through its own brand name. At that time, the bank had about 400,000 account holders. Savers who still hold savings there have a few months to move them to another bank.

Aegon stops offering savings account

You can't save anymore

More and more banks are struggling with savings because they cost the banks more money than they bring in. Previously, ING its wealthy clients to switch to other banks. Similar developments can be seen in Germany and the United States, where banks would rather get rid of the wealthy savers than get rich.

Banks must store depositors' money in safe and liquid instruments. These are, for example, short-term government bonds, but these also often have a negative yield these days. The alternative is to park the money at the central bank, but they charge a deposit rate of 0.5%. Banks pass these costs on to wealthy savers and bring that limit further and further down.

This week, outgoing Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra said that he wants to intervene if banks further lower the threshold for negative interest rates to below €100,000. The question is whether that is feasible, because if it costs banks money to hold savings, they can also consider no longer offering these services. Last year, ABN Amro closed its internet bank Moneyou because offering a high interest rate on savings would no longer be profitable.

This contribution comes from Geotrendlines