Negative interest rates take their toll on lender

Denmark's fourth-biggest listed bank says it is being squeezed out of corporate lending as competitors offer rates that undermine profitability.

Negative interest rates have turned Denmark into a borrowers' market. Spar Nord Bank A/S says it has decided no longer to fight to hold on to some customers after finding that loan rates that would only just allow it to break even are still higher than those offered by rivals.

"We've been head-to-head and gone to the very limit of profitability in our offers, and we have still lost customers," Ole Madsen, senior vice-president at Spar Nord, said in an interview.