Markets
Savings in Europe
What European banks pay today on savings and term deposits: the offer per country next to the official ECB averages, with inflation, real rates and deposit protection.
Best savings rate
-
Instant access
Best term rate
-
Fixed term
Eurozone average
-
ECB, instant access
Eurozone inflation
-
HICP
01 · What banks offer
Savings and term deposit accounts you can open from the Low Countries, ranked by rate.
Rates are editorially checked directly with the bank; the date in the last column is the date of the last check. Promotional rates can change daily, verify the conditions with the bank before opening an account.
02 · What banks pay on average per country
ECB bank rate statistics
These are country averages on newly opened household deposits, not the offer of a single bank. They do show immediately whether your bank sits above or below the market.
03 · What does it yield?
Run the numbers on your savings, with and without inflation
End amount
€ 11.041
Annual compounding
Interest earned
€ 1.041
Before withholding tax
Purchasing power
-
Inflation unknown
Belgian savings accounts have a tax-exempt interest bracket; above it, withholding tax applies. Term deposits are usually fully taxable. Always calculate net returns, the calculator shows the gross amount.
04 · Deposit protection: how far are you covered?
A hundred thousand euros per bank, per person, with footnotes
Every bank licensed in the European Union falls under a national guarantee scheme that covers savings up to €100,000 per person and per bank. On a joint account, that amount applies per holder. What counts is the country of the bank's licence, not the country where you live: an Italian or Maltese deposit opened from Belgium falls under the Italian or Maltese scheme.
Two things to watch: several brands can operate under a single licence, in that case you share that €100,000 cap once. And the payout period differs per country, though seven working days is now the European standard.
A high rate in a small country is therefore not a free lunch: you're trading return for the credit risk of another member state. Always compare the rate to the government yield of that same country: the wider the spread, the more risk is hidden in the rate.
05 · Savings versus bitcoin
Why this page belongs on a crypto site
Savings are the risk-free foundation of any portfolio. As long as a term deposit yields more than inflation, there's little reason to take on risk; once the real rate drops below zero, cash on the account loses purchasing power every year, and the search for yield, stocks, gold, bitcoin, becomes a rational reflex.
So follow the real rate in the table above alongside precious metals and crypto prices. If you want to build a position gradually, the calculator hub lets you weigh saving and investing side by side.
Indicative, delayed prices. Not investment advice. Yields and exchange rates are daily figures from the ECB and public market sources; country yields are monthly. The reference date is shown with each table. Read our terms and conditions.