BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Following the fallout of the slide in the Russian ruble, Switzerland sought Thursday to prevent the Swiss franc from breaching upper limits imposed on the currency by introducing negative interest rates on commercial bank deposits.
The move forces commercial banks to pay to deposit their francs with the Swiss National Bank — usually they get a small interest rate for doing so.
It’s a step that the European Central Bank has introduced, too, though its motivation is to encourage banks to lend to households and businesses in order to shore up the economic recovery in the 18-country eurozone.
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Source: KXAN
