The interest rate saga is over: banks compete for savings with promotions

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 09. 04. 11:29

🎧 Hallgasd a cikket: Nyelv: Sebesség: 1.05×

The years 2023–2024 brought a golden period for retail government bond investors: the Premium Hungarian Government Bond and the Discount Treasury Bond provided a risk-free return of up to 15–19%. However, by the second half of 2025, interest rates had dropped drastically, with new series falling back to around 4–5%. This marked the end of the “interest rate canyon”, and savers once again had real alternatives. Commercial banks did not remain idle either: they launched their campaigns one after another for the freed-up retail money – according to recent research by Pénzcentrum and the University of Debrecen.

Sobering up after the rain of money

The latest series of the PMÁP switched to 4.95% and 3.95% interest rates in July 2025, which was a stark contrast to the double-digit yields of previous years. Investors were faced with a choice: they would stay with low interest rates or look for riskier, but potentially higher-yielding investments. Commercial banks saw an opportunity in this situation.

Flood of banking campaigns

Banks tried to attract new customers with monetary rewards, free account management, discounted card fees, and even gifts. The conditions were varied: a certain amount of credit, completing bank card transactions, starting regular savings, or purchasing investment certificates. Some financial institutions even paid tens of thousands for customer recruitment.

Research results: many encounters, few exchanges

1,613 people participated in the online survey by Pénzcentrum and the University of Debrecen. Two-thirds (66%) of the respondents had encountered a bank promotion in the past six months, but only 12% had actually opened a new account. Nearly half (49.7%) of those who opened new accounts kept their old bank, meaning loyalty remained strong. The majority opened an account with one bank, but there were also those (12.6%) who participated in several promotions.

The majority of account openers chose a current account (79.6%), a smaller proportion chose a securities account (30.4%), TBSZ (14.7%) or NYESZ (2.1%). The promotions were attractive as a business opportunity: participants rated them on average 3.67 on a five-point scale.