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Danske to charge some clients as Danish negative rates trickle through

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - The impact of negative interest rates in Denmark has started to trickle through to the real economy as Danske Bank announced on Friday that several thousand of its business clients would now have to pay to deposit their cash.

The country's largest bank said it would negotiate individual rates with the wealthiest of its business clients although did not say who the clients could be, what rates they would pay and from when.

"Typically, this is more professional customers with bigger deposits that we'll make individual agreements with," Danske Bank head of press relations Kenni Leth said, adding that 4 percent of the bank's business clients would be affected.

The central bank has slashed rates an unprecedented four times in four weeks to -0.5 percent, effectively charging commercial banks to park their money with it.

Chief Executive Thomas Bergen raised the prospects of charging some clients for deposits during an earnings call last week, although he said Danske would try to avoid doing that with ordinary customers.

"We really want to avoid that. That would be too much for me and for society," he told a conference call.

Leth reiterated that sentiment but added the bank was "following the market closely and will act accordingly".

FIH Erhversbank, a smaller Danish Bank, said last week both of its retail and business clients would have to pay a rate of 0.5 percent on their regular accounts as of March 2015.

(Reporting by Alexander Tange; Editing by Sabina Zawadzki and Mark Potter)