Rise in long-term saving deposits of Dutch households

Statistical News Release
Date 28 April 2011

In the first quarter of 2011, Dutch households set aside EUR 2.5 billion in savings for a longer period of time, largely at the cost of demand deposits, which decreased by more than EUR 2 billion.This switch to long-term deposits may have been prompted by the slightly increasing interest rate difference between both savings forms.

Besides, since November 2010 households seem to mind less if their money is temporarily inaccessible. The funds involved relate to savings of households at Dutch banks, excluding savings for pensions managed by pension funds and life insurers.
In 2007 and 2008, encouraged by the then steeply rising interest rates on tied up savings, households had also deposited large sums of money in long-term savings accounts. At the time, that amount even rose from well over EUR 20 billion to almost EUR 100 billion. This is not yet the case now. Possibly, the difference between the interest rates for both manners of saving is not large enough yet. In March 2011, approximately EUR 35 billion was tied up in savings.

Graph Savings withdrawals and deposits by Dutch households

There is no larger trend in the euro area towards tied-up savings, but within the currency union in general more money is already being set aside for longer periods of time. Households in the euro area as a whole have approximately EUR 3,500 billion in savings, half of which by way of long-term deposits. Dutch households hold EUR 300 billion in savings and just over 10% of this amount is tied up.Looking at the individual countries, the percentage of deposits held by Belgian and Italian households is about the same. The largest savings countries in the euro area, Germany and France, have EUR 950 billion and EUR 800 billion in savings respectively. In each country 35% of this has been set aside for the long term.