A Danish bank has launched the world's first negative interest rate mortgage &ndash handing outloans to homeowners where the charge is minus 0.5% a year.
一家丹麦银行推出了世界首例负利率按揭贷款––房贷年利率为-0.5%。
Negative interest rates effectively mean that a bank pays a borrower to take money off theirhands, so they pay back less than they have been loaned.
负利率的意思是,银行付钱让借贷者使用资金,贷款人还的钱比借的钱还少。
Jyske Bank, Denmark's third largest, has begun offering borrowers a 10-year deal at -0.5%, while another Danish bank, Nordea, says it will begin offering 20-year fixed-rate deals at 0% and a 30-year mortgage at 0.5%.
Under its negative mortgage, Jyske said borrowers will make a monthly repayment as usual &ndash but the amount still outstanding will be reduced each month by more than the borrower haspaid.
日德兰银行称,申请负利率贷款的借贷者将如常支付月供,但余下贷款每月扣除额将多于每月还款额。
"We don't give you money directly in your hand, but every month your debt is reduced by morethan the amount you pay," said Jyske's housing economist, Mikkel H?egh.
The mortgage is possible because Denmark, as well as Sweden and Switzerland, has seenrates in money markets drop to levels that turn banking upside-down.
H?egh said Jyske Bank is able to go into money markets and borrow from institutionalinvestors at a negative rate, and is simply passing this on to its customers.
But the flipside is that savers will see nothing paid in interest on their deposits &ndash and may alsosuffer as they go negative.
不过有利就有弊,储户将发现自己的存款毫无收益,如果变成负利率的话存款甚至会减少。
In Switzerland, the bank UBS last week told its wealthy clients that it would introduce a chargeof 0.6% a year if they deposited more than 500,000 euros.
In Denmark, interest rates on savings deposited in Jyske have already fallen to zero. Nowbanks in Denmark are thinking of following Switzerland and moving to negative rates ondeposits.
在丹麦,日德兰银行的存款利率已经降到了0。现在丹麦的银行正考虑跟随瑞士的脚步,对存款实行负利率。
"Right now, for deposits we don't have a negative interest rate. But discussions are ongoing atthe very highest level. It's just that no bank here wants to be the first mover into negativedeposit rates," said H?egh.
While the Bank of England's base rate is 0.75%, and the European Central Bank's main rate iszero, in Denmark (which is not in the eurozone) the equivalent rate is -0.4%.
In reality, the Jyske mortgage borrower in Denmark is likely to end up paying back a littlemore than they borrowed, as there are still fees and charges to pay to compensate the bankfor arranging the deal, even when the nominal rate is negative.