Savers moving from countries with livelier deposit markets are often startled by what the large Dutch banks pay. What sits behind that — the European rate environment and a concentrated retail market — also explains why deposit marketplaces and foreign banks enter the conversation, along with questions about which guarantee scheme stands behind them.
It comes down to the ECB's policy rate plus a market where three banks — ABN AMRO, ING, Rabobank — hold most Dutch retail deposits and don't need to compete hard for them. As of 2026 those three pay somewhere around 1-1.45% on freely-withdrawable savings, tracking the broader European rate environment rather than any real scarcity of deposits on their end. People chasing more yield generally do one of two things: use deposit marketplaces like Raisin, which broker access to other EU banks — often smaller or foreign ones — paying meaningfully more, sometimes 2-3%+, or move funds to platforms like Trade Republic or OpenBank running promotional rates to build market share. Worth knowing if you go that route: the EU deposit guarantee still covers up to €100,000 per person per banking license, but for a non-Dutch bank accessed through a marketplace, that guarantee sits with that bank's home-country scheme, not DNB — same protection level, different regulator standing behind it. This is general information, not a recommendation on where to park anything. ---