The idea of investing in private pension insurance should be suppressed, because new contracts are hardly worthwhile. Classic private annuity policies offer new customers only a maximum guaranteed interest of 0.9 percent. Negative interest is to blame. Pension insurers are now increasingly investing in equities, real estate and renewable energies.

The European Central Bank should consider issuing a public digital currency, an EU draft document said. In its most ambitious version, the project could allow consumers to use electronic cash, which would be directly deposited at the ECB, without the need for bank accounts, financial intermediaries or clearing counterparties.

The Swiss National Bank's new system means less of banks’ reserves get hit. But it gives the central bank more room to push rates even further below zero, if the economic situation deteriorates or the franc starts to appreciate. Banks are finally realizing that negative rates are going to be around for a long time.

At Sydbank A/S, EO Karen Frosig says she’s going to need to pass on negative rates to a record number of retail depositors. She also said she may need to cut the rate on their accounts below the central bank’s benchmark of minus 0.75%. In Denmark, the central bank uses negative rates for the sole purpose of defending the krone’s peg to the euro.

The market for green bonds has exploded, with global sales increasing by more than 300% in the past five years to reach $162 billion this year. The Bloomberg Barclays Euro Green Bond Index shows a total return of 18% since 2014. Investors appear entirely unwilling to forgo wealth to invest in environmentally sustainable projects.

The European Central Bank has been buying the debt as part of its asset repurchase program. Hungary and France’s central banks have each created funds dedicated to ecological investments. The Bank for International Settlements started an open-ended fund for central bank investments in green bonds last month.

Gold has always been used to measure the value of currencies and commodities. In euros, gold reached an all-time high in early September. More and more investors fear an economic downturn, but bonds have become a costly haven due to negative interest rates. On 4th January 1999 one euro bought 128mg of gold. Now it buys only 23mg.

Chief among their woes is the spectre of persistently low interest rates in the eurozone. In September, Mario Draghi, the outgoing president of the European Central Bank, cut its key deposit rate to minus 0.5 per cent, putting further pressure on banks’ net interest income. Markets expect rates to stay there or fall further after Christine Lagarde takes over.

"All Facebook would have to do would be to decide to use more or fewer dollars or euros to affect the exchange rate and thus have a direct impact on trade, industry and nations," French Economy Minister Le Maire said he was not opposed to the creation of a digital currency, which France could develop "in a European framework."

After adopting a greener focus for its $1.8 billion investment portfolio a few years ago, the City of Copenhagen is now stepping up its search for sustainable assets. Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, says Copenhagen’s investment strategy is one for other cities to follow. “I have already had conversations with sovereign wealth funds.”

Over the past six months, money market funds attracted $322 billion of inflows, the largest flight to safe assets since the second half of 2008. Just in the seven-day period ending Oct. 9, investors continued to exit equity funds globally, with outflows reaching $9.8 billion. By contrast, bond funds enjoyed $11.1 billion of inflows.

A growing number of German banks are passing on negative interest rates to their retail customers as the costs become too high to bear on their own. Berliner Volksbank, the country’s second-largest cooperative lender, started to apply a minus 0.5% rate on deposits exceeding 100,000 euros.