A Danish bank has launched the world’s first negative interest rate mortgage — handing out loans to homeowners where the charge is minus 0.5 percent a year.

Negative interest rates effectively mean that a bank pays a borrower to take money off their hands, so they pay back less than they have been loaned.

Jyske Bank, Denmark’s third largest, has begun offering borrowers a 10-year deal at -0.5 percent, while another Danish bank, Nordea, says it will begin offering 20-year fixed-rate deals at 0 percent and a 30-year mortgage at 0.5 percent. Under its negative mortgage, Jyske said borrowers will make a monthly repayment as usual — but the amount still outstanding will be reduced each month by more than the borrower has paid.

“We don’t give you money directly in your hand, but every month your debt is reduced by more than the amount you pay,” said Jyske’s housing economist, Mikkel Hoegh.

The mortgage is possible because Denmark, as well as Sweden and Switzerland, has seen rates in money markets drop to levels that turn banking upside-down.

Hoegh said Jyske Bank is able to go into money markets and borrow from institutional investors at a negative rate, and is simply passing this on to its customers.

But the flipside is that savers will see nothing paid in interest on their deposits — and may also suffer as they go negative.

In Switzerland, the bank UBS recently told its wealthy clients that it would introduce a charge of 0.6 percent a year if they deposited more than €500,000 (US$554,500).

In Denmark, interest rates on savings deposited in Jyske have already fallen to zero. Now banks in Denmark are thinking of following Switzerland and moving to negative rates on deposits.

“Right now, for deposits we don’t have a negative interest rate. But discussions are ongoing at the very highest level. It’s just that no bank here wants to be the first mover into negative deposit rates,” said Hoegh.

While the Bank of England’s base rate is 0.75 percent, and the European Central Bank’s main rate is zero, in Denmark (which is not in the eurozone) the equivalent rate is -0.4 percent.

In reality, the Jyske mortgage borrower in Denmark is likely to end up paying back a little more than they borrowed, as there are still fees and charges to pay to compensate the bank for arranging the deal, even when the nominal rate is negative.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【未偿付的】wèi chángfù de outstanding remaining to be paid, done, or dealt with

【另一面】lìng yīmiàn flipside another aspect or version of something, especially its reverse or its unwanted concomitant

一家丹麦银行推出了世界首例负利率按揭贷款 —— 房贷年利率为-0.5%。

负利率的意思是，银行付钱让借贷者使用资金，贷款人还的钱比借的钱还少。

丹麦第三大银行日德兰银行已经开始向借贷者提供年利率为-0.5%的十年期贷款，而另一家丹麦银行诺底亚银行将开始提供固定年利率为0%的20年期贷款和年利率为0.5%的30年期贷款。

日德兰银行称，申请负利率贷款的借贷者将如常支付月供，但余下贷款每月扣除额将高于每月还款额。

日德兰银行的房产经济学家米克欧•赫格说：“我们不会直接把钱给你，但每个月你的债务减少额会高于你的还款金额。”

这种贷款之所以可行，是因为在丹麦、瑞典、瑞士这些国家，货币市场的利率降幅已经让银行业务出现“倒挂”。

赫格说，日德兰银行能够以负利率从货币市场和机构投资人那里借到钱，现在只不过是将这种借款方式用于银行客户。

不过有利就有弊，储户将发现自己的存款毫无收益，如果变成负利率的话存款甚至会减少。

在瑞士，瑞士联合银行最近告诉有钱的客户说，如果他们的存款超过50万欧元（约合55.45万美元），将收取0.6%的年费。

在丹麦，日德兰银行的存款利率已经降到了0。现在丹麦的银行正考虑跟随瑞士的脚步，对存款实行负利率。

赫格说：“目前我们没有对存款实行负利率。不过最高层正在对此进行讨论。问题在于没有哪家银行愿意成为第一个吃螃蟹的人，率先实行存款负利率。”

目前英格兰银行的基本利率为0.75%，欧洲中央银行的主要利率为0，而不在欧元区内的丹麦相应的利率为-0.4%。

事实上，即使名义利率为负数，丹麦日德兰银行的借贷者最后偿还的金额还是会比贷款金额高一点，因为要向银行支付交易服务费作为补偿。

(chinadaily.com.cn)