Government denies banks and does not allow them to charge for deposits
Banks want to change the law to charge for deposits from large institutional clients. The government rejects any legislative change in the current framework.
Government removes the possibility of banks applying negative interest rates to bank deposits. Several bankers called this week for the law to be revised to allow a fee to be charged to large institutional clients. The official source of the Ministry of Finance, ECO, rejects any change to the current framework, as this could undermine the saver’s confidence.
“The current legal framework does not allow for the interest rates’ collection on deposits. The government is not considering any legislative changes that would modify this framework,” the official source from the Ministry of Finance told ECO.
The same source points out that ‘the defence of financial stability, the client’s confidence in the banking system and the value’s preservation of their savings are fundamental principles’.
On Tuesday, the presidents of the main Portuguese banks called for harmonisation of the law. They stress that they do not want to pass on the negative interest charges of the European Central Bank (ECB) to households or SMEs. Instead, they want to charge interest to foreign institutional clients who leave their money deposited in Portugal because in their countries of origin they are penalised by the negative rate.
