The unconventional monetary policy pursued by central banks after the global financial crisis led to the appearance of zero or even negative interest rates. Based on data from the European Central Bank, the Narodowy Bank Polski and the Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego (Polish Financial Supervision Authority) of for the years 2009–2017, it was noticed that the long-term maintenance of ultra-low interest rates contributes to lowering the net interest margin and the share of interest income in the income from banking operations in the euro area countries. There was an opposite process in Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries. Lower interest rates were conducive to increasing lending and increasing the share of net interest income. Large cooperative banks, extending the area of activity to large urban agglomerations pursued a strategy similar to that of commercial banks. Small cooperative banks with limited possibilities of increasing lending increased their share of both interest and non-interest income in much slower pace. The results indicate that for interest income, the non-interest income in large cooperative banks are of complementary character, and in small banks – of substitutive character and are a tool for their income diversification.
Keep the faith in banking: New evidence for the effects of negative interest rates based on the case of Finnish cooperative banks