Apparently the Frank was getting too strong so now banks and investment companies have to pay to have money here.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/...ts-rouble-live
Already working! The frank is falling.

As long as local banks don't start being overly greedy and commence imposing negative interest on personal accounts…some noise to that effect was made last year.

Most banks already have fees for their current accounts. Anything more on top of that would just be greed and would make customers move around and close bank accounts.

Perhaps smaller players like Migros Bank can benefit from that.

Couldn't they have waited until next year? Just before, I wanted to move CHFs to EUR to spend, they put in the floor price.

Now, as I was preparing to move CHFs into USD, they do this. Grrr.

I'll start worrying about this when my deposits exceed 10m CHF. Maybe 300 years hence....

Would this move impact the mortgage rates in anyway??

The target range for Libor offered rate -- is now between -0.75 percent and 0.25 percent, compared to its previous level of between 0.0 and 0.25 percent.

Will this even work though? The markets don't seem that impressed so far. It's certainly not like when they pegged the CHF to the Euro a few years ago, there was an instantaneous massive jump then.

0.5% negative interest hardly makes a 'massive difference' a 25% negative interest would make a massive difference.......

There was never any such thing as a >>peg<<.

The 1.20 ceiling/floor is currently upheld by the SNB by buying "unlimited amounts" of mixed hard currencies, whenever that becomes necessary.

Key is "whenever that becomes necessary" - apparently they need to buy too many for their liking right now, so they´re introducing additional measures, such as negative interest.

Any institutional investor now needs to think twice, and also justify, why they would like to lose a percentage in the name of their shareholders "just" for holding CHFs.

Negative interest for low private amounts of savings will most probably never incur negative interest, as people would otherwise revert to cash. It´s not in the interest of "normal users" of any currency, which the SNB has to defend.

For institutional investors that´s a totally different story.

Should politicians start to increasingly talking about "abolish cash" - "everything should be traceable" - "counter terrorism" - that should set off alarm bells, as it would allow introducing negative interest for everyone! (Good article in German on spiegel.de >>here<<)

As a public service to any Swiss bank, for a limited time: I will take your money at 0%. Terms and conditions apply, of course.

~CrazyN8s

"For the time being, Credit Suisse does not plan to introduce negative interest rates on savings accounts," Credit Suisse said in an emailed statement in reaction to the SNB's decision.

Source : Business Insider

So, they could pay us money on our mortgage?

I read that too. However, I actually think it won´t happen.

The alternative "cash" is available, and many people would actually swap for €s? As long as anyone believes the 1.20 will be upheld, there is also no risk.

yeah ..that would be really nice ..

I would agree.. however with the eminent ECB QE which may be triggered early next year, there might be additional pressure on the franc.

I would guess that even if banks think of negative interest on savings accounts, it probably will be on accounts with higher balances (1 million & above)..

as long as they give positive interest on loans ...

this is where there will be some difference. Mortgages are going to get even cheaper.

Not by much. Loan rates are extremely low now anyway, and the LIBOR target range that the SNB has quoted has the same upper limit -- it was not reduced.

All this talk of negative deposit rates for current accounts is highly unlikely, too. Domestic banks such as UBS, CS and all the smaller fish are exempt from the negative interest rat imposed by the SNB, unless their deposits exceed 20 times their minimum reserve requirements -- which for most, if not all of these banks, is not the case. Any domestic bank that tried to "pass on" negative rates to its customers would be called out very quickly.

An article in today's NZZ raises the question of how long small accounts will be protected from negative interest rates. Specifically, the article mentioned the PostFinance policy statement made on Friday, posted on its website postfinance.ch under "PostFinance reacts to SNB's negative interest rates":

"PostFinance is also taking the additional step of defining individual customer thresholds for major customers and banks. The proportion of credit that exceeds the threshold will be subject to a fee, currently 1%, from 1 February 2015. The measures introduced by PostFinance are specifically aimed at major customers and banks that transfer assets with no relation to payment transactions to PostFinance. In light of the current circumstances, private customers and most business customers will not have to pay a deposit fee. If the market situation changes significantly, PostFinance reserves the right to implement further measures."

According to the NZZ article, the banks are in an untenable position in that if they pass on the negative interest to the customers then the customers will withdraw their savings into cash. Otherwise, the banks will have to accept losses from the deposit business.

http://www.nzz.ch/finanzen/strukturi...ont-1.18473618

To avoid negative interest rates/ deposit fees, it might be wise to withdraw savings from bank accounts and place in a safety deposit box until the negative interest rates are removed.

It's news like this that could lead to a run on the banks.

It's a good time to become a burglar.