Credit Suisse has announced plans to introduce negative rates on short-term deposits held by banks in Swiss francs.
This is according to a report in today's Financial Times.
The move means that its banking clients are to be charged for depositing their cash with the Swiss bank.
Banks in Switzerland have been trying to slow down deposits from investors seeking a safe haven from the euro zone crisis.
The low interest rates put in place by the country's central bank make it hard for lenders to find ways to invest deposits profitably.
The newspaper said that Credit Suisse notified its banking clients of the move via Swift, a payments company. The bank warned that it had decided to start applying negative credit rates on cash clearing accounts “above a certain threshold” from 10 December.
“We invite our customers to keep cash balances as low as possible to avoid negative credit charges,” the bank said.
