The former manager of a leading Swiss bank harshly criticized negative interest rates, concluding that the money had become useless.
Oswald Grubel, who headed Credit Suisse from 2004 to 2007 and UBS Group AG from 2009 to 2011, said that extreme banking measures such as negative interest rates would lead to a further economic downturn.
In an interview with the Swiss newspaper NZZ, Grubel said:
Negative interest rates have become crazy. This means that money is already worth nothing. As long as we have negative interest rates, the financial industry will shrink
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has been using negative interest since 2015, seeking to maintain the influence of the Swiss franc (CHF). However, other banks began to suffer from this, and Credit Suisse announced that it would increase commissions for richer customers.
For several years, other banks followed the example of Credit Suisse, thereby “punishing” their depositors, while the incentive to hold on to fiat money was decreasing.
US Fed hints at rate cuts
The US Federal Reserve is now talking about the possibility of further rate cuts. On October 8, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that such an approach was justified and that the Fed was keen to reflect global economic risks. Powell also said the US central bank will soon begin to expand its balance sheet so that short-term financial markets can work more stably.
Bitcoin hater Peter Schiff was one of the first to comment on the Fed’s move:
Is Bitcoin the Future?
One of the features of Bitcoin is that its stocks cannot be manipulated, and it cannot be devalued as a result of the policy of central banks, printing money as much as they like, lowering interest rates and initiating quantitative easing measures to keep the economy afloat.
So far, Bitcoin is still in a huge financial “pond”. However, when this “pond” dries out, and the main “fish” die, Bitcoin may be in the role of a special tenacious fish.
