Meanwhile, In Sweden, Banks Are Refusing To Open Savings Accounts
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
09/02/2015
Early in July, Sweden’s Riksbank proved its dedication to the post-crisis central bank mantra of “if it’s broken, break it some more” when, after becoming the first country to witness observable, indisputable evidence of QE’s failure, the central bank pushed rates further into negative territory and expanded QE.
The problem for Sweden, as we documented in “For The First Time Ever, QE Has Officially Failed”, is that QE had soaked up so much of the available high quality collateral that bond yields and the krona were moving in the wrong direction (i.e. higher) meaning that more QE would only exacerbate the situation, leading to still higher yields and a stronger currency. Incidentally, to avoid distorting the market even further, Morgan Stanley thinks the Riksbank may have to resort to mortgage bonds in the not-so-distant future.
Of course as we’ve seen, things can always get NIRP-er-er in the new paranormal which is why the market is pricing in a 50% chance of more easing from the Riksbank at tomorrow’s meeting.
The problem is that if you go NIRP and still are not able to achieve the kind of economic outcomes you were looking for by essentially forcing depositors to choose between a tax on their savings and pulling money out and spending it, well then the next logical thing to do is to stop accepting deposits, which is apparently what it’s come to in Sweden. Here’s more from Radio Sweeden:
Richard Landén from Helsingborg, southwest Sweden, tried to open a simple savings account at Swedbank. But the bank wanted him to move over his entire account, including his monthly salary deposits and any savings he had.
“You have to be an complete customer, they said. It’s either that or nothing at all, apparently,” Landén told Swedish Radio News.
Swedbank declined to comment on the case.
The Rest…HERE
