Japan's savers won't play ball as the BOJ turns negative

Tokyo

THE Bank of Japan (BOJ) hopes that cutting interest rates below zero will boost spending and investment. But fear, inertia and years of paltry returns mean the nation's army of savers are unlikely to march to the central bank's tune.

After the BOJ made its move on Friday to charge banks for holding their reserves from Feb 16, some retail banks are already cutting their deposit rates, and more are expected to follow suit.