Interest on savings generally depends on the basic rates of the Czech National Bank. It lowered them in December after a year and a half: individual banks can deposit money at the CNB for a fortnight at 6.75% and so-called overnight at 5.75%, which is 0.25% less than before. The CNB Bank Board will decide on a further reduction today. And economists expect rates to continue to fall rapidly in the coming months.
Individual banks have already reacted to this by reducing interest on time deposits longer than half a year. On the contrary, they left them higher or even temporarily increased them for shorter deposits. Banka Creditas has added shorter deposits to its offer, offering the currently highest interest rate on the market: 6% for a one-month commitment and 5.8% for a three-month commitment. Attention: all rates mentioned in the article are annual (pa), so this does not mean an appreciation of, for example, a full 6% in a single month.
Some banks have already lowered the rates on savings accounts, others will do so in the near future – and they will probably repeat such a step several more times before the middle of the year. For example, at Raiffeisenbank, clients will receive a maximum of 5% from January, as recently as last September it was giving 5.5%. Česká spořitelna, Komerční banka or ČSOB also previously prepared room for an easy reduction, when they divided the interest rate into a basic and a bonus rate – they can change the bonus rate more quickly.
The advantage of savings accounts is that money can be withdrawn at any time. However, the bank can reduce (or even increase) the interest practically immediately. On the contrary, with term deposits, you undertake not to withdraw the money for a certain period of time. In exchange for this, however, the bank guarantees you that the originally agreed interest rate will not change for the entire duration of the deposit. Depending on future market developments, this may prove to be an advantage, but also a disadvantage – it will certainly be an advantage in the coming months.
Arranging a term deposit in the next few days can therefore be a way to keep the current higher interest rates for a longer period of time than with savings accounts. Rates on shorter deposits are generally higher than on longer ones, however, even a longer deposit can pay off now: it is possible that after the end of the shorter deposit, the rates for a possible new deposit will again be lower than now. For example, J&T Bank has already announced that it will reduce rates from today.
However, not all banks offer the most advantageous monthly deposit. For example, Komerční banka and Moneta offer only 0.01% on it, while they have significantly better interest on a quarterly deposit. And Raiffeisenbank, for example, gives the highest interest for a two-month deposit.
When choosing a time deposit, it is good to look at the conditions of early withdrawal. It is probably not so important for shorter deposits, but there are big differences between banks. For example, Česká spořitelna allows one early withdrawal of up to 25% of the deposit account principal without penalty. At ČSOB, you pay one percent of the withdrawn amount for early withdrawal, but at least 50 crowns. And elsewhere you can lose at least the accrued interest.
The highest interest rates for term deposits for one month
BankGentlemen (pa)LimitationsBanka Creditas6%Minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. Česká spořitelna5.1%Minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. ČSOB4.5% Up to a limit of three million crowns. The minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. UniCredit Bank4.25% The minimum deposit is CZK 30,000.Source: official bank documents, status as of February 8, 2024
The highest interest rates for term deposits for three months
BankGentlemen (pa)LimitationsBanka Creditas5.8%Minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. Česká spořitelna5.5%Minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. ČSOB5.5% Up to a limit of three million crowns. The minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. Moneta Money Bank5.3% The minimum deposit is CZK 40,000. Komerční banka5.25% Up to a limit of three million crowns. The minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. UniCredit Bank5%Interest 5% up to one million. 5.25% interest from one to five million. The minimum deposit is CZK 30,000. J&T Banka 5% The initial deposit must be at least one million crowns. The condition does not apply to existing clients who already have or had deposits of at least one million or investments of at least 100,000 in J&T – for them the minimum deposit is 100,000. Raiffeisenbank 5% This is a deposit for two months. The three-month deposit has a rate of 2.3%. The minimum deposit is CZK 10,000.Source: official bank documents, status as of February 8, 2024
The highest interest rates for term deposits for six months
BankGentlemen (pa)LimitationsBanka Creditas5.4% Minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. Max banka5.4% Minimum deposit is CZK 100,000. J&T Banka5% The initial deposit must be at least one million crowns. The condition does not apply to existing clients who already have or had deposits of at least one million or investments of at least 100,000 in J&T – for them the minimum deposit is 100,000.ČSOB5% Up to a limit of three million crowns. The minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. Komerční banka 5% Up to a limit of three million crowns. The minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. Česká spořitelna4.8% The minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. Moneta Money Bank4.5%Minimum deposit is CZK 40,000.UniCredit Bank4.5%Interest 4.5% up to one million. 5% interest from one to five million. The minimum deposit is CZK 30,000.Source: official bank documents, status as of February 8, 2024
The highest interest rates for term deposits for one year
BankGentlemen (pa)LimitationsJ&T Banka5.3% The initial deposit must be at least one million crowns. The condition does not apply to existing clients who already have or had deposits in J&T of at least one million crowns or investments of at least 100,000. Banka Creditas4.5% Minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. Max banka4.5% Minimum deposit is CZK 100,000. Fio banka 4% Minimum deposit is CZK 3,000. Komerční banka 4% Up to a limit of three million crowns. The minimum deposit is CZK 5,000.Moneta Money Bank4%The minimum deposit is CZK 40,000.ČSOB4%Up to a limit of three million crowns. The minimum deposit is CZK 5,000.UniCredit Bank4% Interest 4% up to a million. The minimum deposit is CZK 30,000. Česká spořitelna 4% The minimum deposit is CZK 5,000. Source: official bank documents, Peníze.cz, status as of February 8, 2024
The number one among savings accounts so far remains the offer called Great account from Trinity Bank. It has an interest rate of 6.28% per annum for deposits up to 250,000. Any part above this limit will bear interest at 5.28%.
With no ceiling on the amount of the deposit, you can get 6.08% per year at Trinity Bank, but only when opening a new account at branches in Ostrava, Pilsen, Liberec, Olomouc, České Budějovice or Hradec Králové and at the same time with a permanent residence in one of these regions.
In January, the Czech branch of the Slovak bank VÚB reduced the interest rate to 6.05% from the previous 6.15%, there is no limit. It is more complicated with taxation, we write the details in the table.
Max banka has the highest interest on a simple savings account without restrictions. It gives a rate of 6.01% per year without a ceiling and other conditions.
Best savings accounts as of February 8, 2024
BankNameMaximum interest (pa)LimitationsTrinity BankGreat account6.28% For deposits up to CZK 250,000 (5.68% over the limit). Trinity BankOffer at new branches 6.08% Only when opening a new account at branches in Ostrava, Pilsen, Liberec, Olomouc, České Budějovice or Hradec Králové and at the same time with permanent residence in one of these regions. No ceiling. VÚB Savings without limits 6.05% No conditions, but: It is a branch of a Slovak bank. If the client does not provide a tax domicile certificate from the tax office, the bank will deduct a 19% tax. Whoever submits the certificate must solve the tax liability for the calendar year themselves (15% rate in the Czech Republic). Those who do not exceed the limits for taxable income do not need to file a return. Max bank Savings account 6.01% No conditions. Air BankBonus promotion up to 6% Interest is 5% for deposits up to CZK 250,000, only 6% is applied to the part exceeding this limit. For example, for a balance of CZK 500,000, the resulting interest is 5.5%, for a million 5.75%, for five million 5.95%. The condition is at least five card payments in the previous month (with a discount for new clients) and activation of the bonus. UniCredit BankPromotion for a new current account5.75%Only for new clients who open a current account. Interest is paid on deposits up to two million. The condition is at least three card payments per month. The bank guarantees that it will not reduce the interest until the end of February. As a standard, it gives previous clients only 2.5% up to a limit of half a million. Banka Creditas Savings account +5.6% For deposits up to CZK 500,000. For the part above this limit, the interest is 3.1%. With a notice period of one month, the interest is 6% (up to CZK 500,000) and 4% (above CZK 500,000). Fio banka Fio konto5.5% For deposits up to CZK 200,000. For the band from 200,000 to a million, the interest is 0.1%, from one to ten million 0.15%, above ten million 0.2%. The minimum balance is CZK 100, it is returned only when the account is cancelled.mBankmSpoření 5.5% The condition is a (free) current account and the choice of one of the four variants of regular savings. This takes place in the form of goals, each of which can save a maximum of CZK 100,000. Exceeding the limit means that the entire deposit falls to practically zero interest. The limit can be increased up to CZK 800,000 thanks to the fact that it is possible to establish up to eight goals. Moneta Money Bank Savings H, G, F, E5.3% For deposits up to a million crowns. Those who have an older type of savings account (AD) must open a new one, otherwise the higher interest rate will not be set. The part of the deposit above one million bears interest of 0.5%. The table only contains classic savings accounts that are available as standard for regular retail clients. Source: official bank documents, Peníze.cz
Petr Kučera
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2024-02-08 11:30:00
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