Europe’s vision of idyllic unity has lost its glow due to rampant immigration, regulation and debt, causing nationalist parties to ride the waves of public anger. None of these crises have benefited European banks, with some teetering on the brink. But solutions exist that if implemented will restore growth and financial stability.
Paying a fee to deposit money in a bank savings account is a concept most people cannot fathom, but German banks have begun to charge wealthier retail customers. Bank managers claim this is a result of the ECB’s negative interest rates, which penalize them for holding funds with the ECB.
On June 8, the European Central Bank (ECB) began its Corporate Sector Purchase Programme (CSPP), which was initially announced by the bank’s president, Mario Draghi, on March 10 as an addendum to the ECB’s quantitative easing (QE) program.
Earlier this year, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to cut its deposit rate to -0.4 percent and its benchmark refinancing rate to zero.
The Banking Union project, launched in the summer of 2012, was key to reversing the fragmentation trends that were threatening the Eurozone at the time.