Where banks pay interest to borrowers and charge depositors
Hvidore, Denmark
AT first, Eva Christiansen barely noticed the number. Her bank called to say that Ms Christiansen, a 36-year-old entrepreneur here, had been approved for a small-business loan. She whooped. She danced. A friend took pictures.
"I think I was so happy I got the loan, I didn't hear everything he said," she recalled.
And then she was told again about her interest rate. It was minus 0.0172 per cent - less than zero. While there would be fees to pay, the bank would also pay interest to her. It was just a little over US$1 a month. But still.
These are strange times for European borrowers, as if a wormhole has opened up to a parallel universe where the usual rules of financial gravity are suspended. Investors lent Germany nearly US$4 billion last week, knowin…
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