Coming to American Banks...?

“We cannot earnestly rule out punishment interest in the future,” said Frank Kohler, CEO at the Sparda-Bank Berlin, the largest cooperative bank in Germany in terms of membership. He pointed out that the banks that are the most susceptible to punishment interest are those whose business model relies on pure banking with individuals and businesses, and whose earnings cannot be improved by investment banking, risk-taking, gambling, market-rigging, and other big-bank activities that “have triggered the financial crisis in 2007.”

“So precisely those banks suffer the most that have never put the financial system at risk,” he said. “This is unfortunately not free of bitter irony….”

The door to punishment interest has been cracked open. It starts with large deposits and small rates. Then step by step, deposit amounts get smaller and punishment interest rates get larger until everyone gets smacked with it, and no money is save. It’s all part of the time-honored central-bank strategy to flog savers until their mood improves.
http://wolfstreet.com/2014/10/30/the-wrath-of-draghi-first-german-bank-hits-savers-with-negative-interest-rate/