Germany’s top banker had warned Europe’s central bank that another interest rate cut would result in more harm than good.
“It will have serious side effects,” said Deutsche Bank (DB) CEO, Christian Sewing at a banking conference in Frankfurt which was held on Wednesday.
Investors and companies expect the European Central Bank to cut interest rates to a new record lows when it meets later this month as the global economy experiences headwinds. With the manufacturing industry diminishing around the globe and the trade war hurting businesses, consumers are beginning to get nervous.
Rates in Europe have been in the red since 2014. Even as it had helped the region recover from its debt crisis, it had been harming banks as it ate its way into their lending profits and people with savings.
Christian Sewing argued that pushing the interest rates even further into negative territory would do little to stimulate the region’s economy, which is once again in a precarious position.
“Small and medium sized banks have told Deutsche Bank they won’t invest more just because credit is 10 basis points cheaper,” Sewing said on Wednesday and added that cutting rates would only “serve to drive assets prices even higher and penalize savers.”
Sewing also made a social case against persistently low interest rates. He vehemently expressed that such policies feed inequality by continuing to reward the privileged few who benefit from access to cheap credit. This while savers in Europe were losing 160 Billion Euros ($145 Billion) a year due to negative rates.
“That further divides society,” Sewing remarked which came as concerns about Germany’s economy showing increasing signs of weakness. The country’s central bank has warned that it could be slipping into recession.
This had supported the case for the ECB to take action at its next meeting schedule on September 12th. In addition to potentially cutting interest rates, the Central Bank is expected to announce that it will restart its bond-buying program in hopes that it would provide more stimulus to the economy.
The prospect of more deeply negative rates is particularly painful for Deutsche Bank, which recently announced a massive turnaround effort that includes around 18,000 job cuts. The bank has pledged to increase revenues by 10% to €25 Billion ($28 Billion) by 2022 and leaving little room for error or higher costs.
Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso expressed worries about the yen’s continual rise, calling it “rapid” and hinting at the strong currency’s impact on exports as Japan struggles through a recession. The yen’s ...
The Bank of England will announce next week how quickly it expects the economy to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, but it is unlikely to add to the 100 billion pounds of the fiscal package it released in June. Britain’s economy ...
June had seen Japan’s industrial output breaking its four-month slump. The recuperation could be attributed to a modest recovery seen in broader business and consumer activity after the world’s third-biggest economy suffered from ...
Spain’s unemployment rose to 15.33% for the second quarter of 2020, according to Tuesday’s data from the National Statistics Institute amid the worsening COVID-19 situation in the country. The unemployment rate surged past the ...
Australia had seen its employment rate dropping 1.1% between mid-June and mid-July, weekly data showed on Tuesday. In addition to this, the southeastern state of Victoria recorded the sharpest plunge in employment as the state suffers from ...