Triodos first Dutch bank to drop interest rate to 0.0%

Triodos bank is the first Dutch bank to drop its interest rate to 0.0 percent. From April Triodos customers will no longer get any interest on their regular internet savings account, NOS reports. Triodos already had the lowest interest rate of all Dutch banks. In October the bank lowered its interest rate to 0.1 percent.

Other Dutch banks have also been decreasing their interest rates significantly for some time. This mostly has to do with the European Central Bank's policy of keeping interest rates very low in an effort to promote economic growth in Europe. Low interest rates make it more attractive for companies to borrow money.

A negative interest rate on savings may well be the next thing facing Dutch consumers. Banks in other European countries already dropped their savings interest below zero, which basically means that customers have to pay to keep their savings in the bank. On Wednesday Swiss bank UBS announced that it is dropping its savings interest rate to -0.6 percent for customers with savings of more than one million euros, the Telegraaf reports.