Romanian banks not sure whether to use new benchmark for First House loans

Romanian banks said on May 3 that they would continue extending mortgage loans under the government-guaranteed Prima Casa (First House) programme at an interest rate calculated based on the ROBOR benchmark, although the Finance Ministry officially announced on May 3 evening that the new IRCC benchmark also applies to state-guaranteed loans.

In a press release posted on May 2, the Finance Ministry confirmed that IRCC should be used for all the loan programmes guaranteed by the state, including Prima Casa. Banks, however, say that they are unable to extend Prima Casa loans at a rate calculated based on IRCC, since the law stipulates that these loans are granted at an interest rate equal to the money market interest benchmark (ROBOR) for three months maturity, plus a spread of maximum two percentage points.

Representatives of BCR Bank pointed out that they apply the new IRCC benchmark for all loans extended to households except for the Prima Casa loans, local Ziarul Financiar reported.

“From our information, the emergency ordinance (OUG) 19/2019 [which amends the OUG 114/2018, or the “greed tax” emergency] provides that the new IRCC benchmark applies to the loans subject to OUG 50/2010 and OUG 52/2016 (these regarding the consumer and mortgage loans) except for the Prima Casa loans. The Romanian State regulates prima Casa loans through specific legislation,” the representatives of BCR explained.

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