Dutch household savings grew by €14.9 billion last year, back to pre-Covid levels

The bank balances of Dutch households grew by 14.9 billion euros to 576.3 billion euros last year, according to figures released by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). That increase is comparable to pre-coronavirus levels, the Dutch central bank said.

During the pandemic (2020-2022), Netherlands residents saved a lot more - 37.8 billion euros per year, on average. Government support measures kept their income relatively stable, while the coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions meant they had less to spend it on. In the years 2013 to 2019, Dutch households’ bank balances grew by an average of 10.1 billion euros per year.

Of the 576.3 billion euros in household bank accounts in the Netherlands, almost 80 percent (458.9 billion euros) were in savings accounts last year. The remaining 117.4 billion euros were in current accounts, 14.1 billion euros less than in 2022. According to DNB, that is due to higher interest rates on savings. Netherlands residents transferred more of their money into their savings accounts to take advantage of the higher interest rate.

Last year, Netherlands residents earned over 1.7 billion euros in interest on savings accounts - three times more than in 2022 (500 million euros). The interest rates on savings have increased steadily since the summer of 2022.

The use of bank accounts abroad also became more popular in the past year, “although the amounts involved are relatively small,” the DNB said. “That may partly have suppressed the growth of bank deposits at Dutch banks.”