ECB raises rates, deposit account yields rise in Europe: Italy in fourth place

Last September 10, the ECB brought the rate on deposits from 2.25% to 2.50%, that on main refinancing to 2.65% and that on marginal loans to 2.90%, after inflation jumped to 3.3% in August, reaching the highest since September 2023, with the rush of gas and oil due to the war in the Middle East. The new tightening came after the one in June and after the break in July and further increases cannot be ruled out between now and the end of the year.

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As mentioned, the value of interest rates has effects on the savings that Italians (and all Europeans) have decided to put aside in deposit accounts, to obtain interest, rather than leaving them in the current account, thus protecting them from inflation. Deposit accounts (which can be free, i.e. with the possibility of withdrawing money according to the conditions of the contract, or tied, i.e. with the money blocked for a specific period) therefore have the purpose of remunerating liquidity. With current accounts, on the contrary, you tend to manage the money directly.

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As an analysis by Facile.it explains, many credit institutions (especially digital ones) have decided to upwardly review the contractual conditions of the deposit accounts offered after the increase in rates, with the aim of attracting new liquidity. An increase in average returns is thus being recorded: those for 12-month restricted accounts have grown by around 30 basis points, those with five-year restrictions by up to 50 basis points.

Examining the best offers available online as of September 16th, experts explain that the rates on deposit accounts reach 3.90% for accounts tied to 5 years, 3.50% for those tied to one year and 3% for those without ties.

Facile.it took into consideration the returns on deposit accounts with a commitment of more than two years in various European countries. The countries where contractual conditions have become more advantageous for savers are above all those in the Baltic area: in Lithuania the average annual gross index reached 3.34%, in Estonia 3.08% and in Latvia 2.99%. In fourth place is Italy, with 2.84%, followed by the Netherlands and Slovakia, where the average gross rate is 2.75%.

The figure achieved in Italy is positioned above the European average of 2.57% and above many other large European countries. To give some examples: in France the average gross return reported is 2.73%, in Germany it is 2.70%. In Ireland it stopped at 2.05%.

If you look at current accounts, the situation is the opposite. The returns offered to customers are around low figures throughout Europe, highlights Facile.it. Again taking the month of July as a parameter, the gross rate on average was 0.28% per year. The country with the best conditions is Luxembourg, at 0.6%, while in some states there were rates close to zero, such as in Greece, Croatia and Portugal. Italy was at 0.19%. This does not mean that there are no current accounts with profitable offers. “Although the current account was created as a tool to manage liquidity and current expenses, not to turn your savings into income, the advice is to compare the offers of the different banks because there is no shortage of credit institutions, especially online, which offer an interesting remuneration, with rates that in some cases can reach up to 4% gross per year, even beating the best deposit accounts”, underline the experts.

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