The current account: an investment tool for banks, not for account holders
Banks make record profits from current accounts. Analysis on banking strategies and the use of deposits.
2' min read
2' min read
With the banking reshuffle slow to come to a head, between one filing and another of bidding documents, the subsequent requests for suspension and the decisions of the authorities ready to be challenged before the TAR, credit institutions continue to grind out record profits. Profits continued to grow in the first quarter of 2025, but there is an ongoing reshaping of revenue sources. Net interest income - the difference between how much banks earn on loans and how much they pay on deposits - has slowed, while the contribution from placement fees for asset management products and policies is growing.
With the fall in rates, net interest income fell by an average of 5% compared to the last quarter of 2024, with a peak of 18% for Credem and 5.8%, 4.5% and 4% for Crédit Agricole Italia, BancoBpm and Intesa Sanpaolo respectively. Banks among the most active in launching offers on the mortgage front at this stage.
Since October 2023, mortgage rates have gradually decreased following the ECB's cuts in the cost of money. According to the latest monthly report of the ABI, the average rate on total outstanding loans signed over the years fell last April to 4.13%, from 4.21% in the previous month..
On the other hand, the deposits of private customers, which amounted to EUR 1,811 billion at the end of April, continued to earn little or no interest. The rate on deposits in euro applied to households and non-financial corporations in April was 0.73 per cent. In particular, the rate on current account deposits of households only (weak contractors) was 0.35 per cent, 'bearing in mind that the current account allows the use of a multitude of services and does not have the function of an investment', as is pointed out in the ABI report.
It should be remembered that before the long period of zero or negative rates, in the years 2000 to 2008, average rates on current accounts were 1.02% for households (with months at 1.77%). And even back then, current accounts did not have (for customers) an investment function.
