And NLB was the first bank to start charging to companies the so-called demurrage for storing money, in the amount of 0.03% per month for deposits over € 3 million. Four more banks have introduced the new business practice since then - the Abanka bank charges 0.4% per year for deposits over € 5 million, in the SKB the threshold is € 3 million, in the Sberbank bank € 15 million, and in the Koper Bank one million.

The banks don’t give much explanations on the purpose and aim of the punitive rates for company deposits; they refer to the negative deposit rate introduced two years ago by the European Central Bank which adds up to 0.4%, and the increased quantity of money in circulation. The other banks do not exclude the possibility of introducing the demurrage, should the ECB continue to lower the negative interest rate, and demand deposits keep growing above average.

Most of the bank however claim that they are not yet considering it, while two of the German savings banks have already introduced penalty rates for deposits of residents. The president of the Bank Association of Slovenia France Arhar does not expect our banks to decide on such a measure. The households do have the bank deposits in the amount of over 16 billion; mostly the demand deposits are increasing. Saving in banks is becoming less and less profitable, due to low interest rates. The interest for one-year time deposit of € 10,000 is only between € 15 and € 65, while in 2008 it was much higher, namely € 550.

Andreja Lešnik and Janja Koren, Translated by G. K.