Low Interest Rate Environment

We're in one.

Low interest rate environments are created when the "risk-free" interest rates being charged are lower than customary. This enviroment can hurt banks, because part of their profits are coming their interest margins (the difference between interest they pay investors and the interest they pay out to investors). It can also hurt investors, because they collect less interest on their savings.

Think: savings, CDs, retirement plans...everyone wants to collect as much interest as possible, right? The rates are set by the central bank, not the individual bank itself, so these environments are often national (rather than an isolated bank here and there). Depending on whom you ask, the U.S. has been in a low interest rate environment since the recession of 2008.