First there was the Decreto Salgado, which limited the interest that banks could make on large deposits. And now bond yields are riding on the back of the peripheral debt crisis. The issue is that Spanish lenders keep raising money through complicated and conservative products that they offer to clients.
This amount has risen now that the Treasury has sold 12 and 18-month bonds. The first, the most popular shares offered by the Treasury are at an interest rate of 3.7%, the highest since 2008 and greater than the majority of 12-month savings deposit yields guaranteed by banks and savings banks.
We just have to look at commercial sales by lenders with bigger market quotas in national the banking industry. Only two of them, Banco Espiritu Santo and Banco Pastor, are offering savings deposit deals with interest rates higher than yesterday´s average sale.
The Portuguese bank´s motivation is obvious, given that it isn?t subject to the Real Decreto tax break in force since July 4 and operating in our country as a branch and not as a subsidiary.
Banco Pastor is the only Spanish bank offering a higher return (through oficinadirecta) than the last treasury bond rate. Since the Decreto Salgado announcement, all the Spanish banks and savings banks have adapted the interest rates on their products to the highest rate, leaving the average yield around 3%.
