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LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - HSBC is to startcharging other banks for depositing money in currencies ofcountries that have negative interest rates.
Europe's biggest bank will join a number of other U.S. and European banks to charge their peers for holding deposits -effectively passing on the cost of holding money where interestrates have turned negative.
The move will affect deposits from banks in euros, Swissfrancs, Danish crowns and Swedish crowns. A European CentralBank's bond-buying programme has depressed interest rates acrossEurope.
"HSBC charges banks for deposits they hold with us incurrencies where negative interest rates apply. Banks affectedhave been notified and we continue to monitor the situation,"HSBC said. It will start applying the charges in August.
The bank declined to say how much it had in deposits in theaffected currencies. It will not affect the deposits ofindividual or corporate customers. (Reporting by Steve Slater; editing by Susan Thomas)
