There are significant differences in the savings interest rates of Swiss banks
Published: Thursday, Dec 7th 2023, 08:30
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The differences between the savings interest rates offered by individual Swiss banks have widened since the beginning of the year. Smaller banks in particular often offer savers significantly better conditions. However, at an average of 0.8 percent, savings interest rates remain low.
Savings interest rates have risen significantly over the course of the year: At the beginning of 2023, the average savings interest rate was still 0.19 percent, writes the comparison service Moneyland.ch in the study published on Thursday. However, even with an average interest rate of 0.8 percent, inflation is eating up savings interest again. Most economists expect annual inflation of between 2.1 and 2.3 percent in 2023.
Interest between 0 and 2 percent
The best savings accounts for adults already offer 2 percent interest, writes Moneyland. The worst ones offer 0 percent. Since the beginning of the year, the differences in interest rates between the banks have become even greater: This makes it all the more important to compare the offers, Moneyland Managing Director Benjamin Manz is quoted as saying.
Medium-term notes or fixed-term deposit accounts are now becoming increasingly popular with savers again. The average interest rates for medium-term notes are currently 1.34% for a term of one year and 1.42% on average for ten years. They hardly increase with increasing maturity.
Low willingness to switch
Most banks can currently enjoy high interest margins. According to Moneyland, many would only adjust interest rates on customer balances if they feared losing customers: "The fact that Swiss bank customers are still relatively reluctant to switch banks also leads to lower savings interest rates." According to the study, smaller banks offer the most attractive conditions because they want to attract new customers.
Many economists are already expecting central banks to cut key interest rates again in 2024. However, Moneyland believes that Swiss savings interest rates are unlikely to fall much in the next six months and may even continue to rise on some accounts. The reason for this is that average savings interest rates are still low compared to the key interest rates.
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