ABN Amro launching cheap EU business loans

Small and medium businesses that apply for a loan at ABN Amro in the coming months, will receive the so-called "ECB discount", the bank announced in a press release on Tuesday. With this the bank begins the release of cheap ECB money. The European Central Bank recently loaned 82.6 billion euros to 255 banks in Europe, at an extremely low interest rate of 0.15 percent. This money is intended to stimulate investment by small and medium enterprises and to boost the economy in Europe. In the Netherlands, ABN Amro and ING signed up for the loans. According to the press release, the financial benefit to the companies comes down to "an absolute amount of several million euro". According to the terms of ECB, the bank must fully pass this advantage to the companies. According to a spokesperson for the bank, it is too complicated to pass the benefits for the businesses with a lower interest rate. The bank has therefore decided to remove the commission for most business loans. Such commission is one percent of the loan. The advantage for ABN Amro is that in this way the bank can bring in more revenue than banks that do not use the cheap ECB money, such as Rabobank and merchant bank NIBC. The bank expects to be able to offer cheaper loans until April 1st.