Netherlands Abn Amro bank drops mortgage and savings rates further

With ECB President Mario Draghi saying in June that it is unlikely to increase interest rates before summer 2019 it was interesting to see the bank ABN Amro in the Netherlands decrease its 30 year mortgage rates dropped from 3.95% to 3.85% with its savings rates (direct sparen) falling from 0.05% to 0.03%. This is an interesting development considering the European Central Bank (ECB) could start tightening its monetary policy and increase rates next year with an improved outlook in the euro zone. Christian Nolting, chief investment officer at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management told Squawk Box Europe on August 1st that bank stocks could benefit with any marginal change in rates. Deposits and mortgages in Europe are considerably lower than in most regions around the world, with the exception of Japan. In the past year some US banks have superceded Europe with deposits moving higher since the Fed increased its rates.