Using those deposits is getting trickier, however. Though ING’s loans are almost fully funded by deposits overall, that is not the case in each market, points out Koos Timmermans, vice-chairman of the management board. In Germany, where ING is the third-biggest private bank by customers, ING had €107 billion in deposits at the end of 2013 but only €71 billion in loans. The reverse was true in ING’s home market, where there is a perennial funding gap because the Dutch save more than most through pension plans and have been encouraged by tax breaks to take out mortgages. Since the crisis many national supervisors have made it hard to move retail savings across borders to fund lending elsewhere. This traps pools of liquidity, forcing banks to borrow on wholesale markets despite having money to spare.