Romania’s Competition Council sent to the European Commission and to the relevant banks the results of an investigation launched in 2022 on the alleged collusion of ten local lenders that manipulated the interbank interest rate ROBOR with the final aim of increasing the interest rates paid by their mortgage debtors, Bursa announced.

The fines proposed by the Council reportedly reach 10% of the annual turnover in some cases, but are subject to appeals that the banks can file before May 13.

According to Bursa, the ten lenders that received the Competition Council's report include the largest banks: BCR (Erste Group), Banca Transilvania, ING Bank, BRD Groupe Societe Generale, Raiffeisen Bank, Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, CEC Bank, Eximbank, and Libra Internet Bank.

The investigation relates to fixing the interbank reference rate ROBOR, a benchmark that did not reflect the actual market operations but rather some quotations given by the ten banks. The rate was used, however, for the actual calculation of mortgage interest rates.

Banca Transilvania (BVB: TLV), listed on the Bucharest Exchange, rejected the accusations and announced it would appeal the fine. ING Bank also said its activity has observed all legal requirements. 

Based on the banks’ 2024 turnover and assuming a 10% fine (the highest fine, reportedly proposed for some of the banks) for all of them, Bursa calculated a total fine of EUR 1 billion.

The banks subject to fines are to send their opinions on the subject to the investigative committee by May 13, after which the final decision will be adopted by the nine members of the Council's plenary session, the Competition Council told Bursa.

The institution has been investigating lenders that participate in the calculation of the ROBOR interest rate since 2022. 

The Competition Council’s investigation was launched shortly after Mugur Isărescu, the governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), stated that banks had exaggerated by raising ROBOR above the key interest rate. 

"ROBOR has been moving close to the monetary policy interest rate. However, for more than 4-5 months, it has been decoupled. Banks jumped the gun and raised ROBOR above the key interest rate. They overreacted. There was a clear tendency for banks and traders to view the future pessimistically. Perhaps liquidity conditions made banks jump the gun with ROBOR". 

Adrian Vasilescu, strategy consultant at the BNR, believed, at the time, that there were no situations that exceeded the limits of the law.

This is not the Council's only investigation into the banking sector. In 2023, the Competition Council launched an investigation into the way some banks calculate credit scores, suspecting that this blocks some customers' access to loans and makes refinancing more difficult.

(Photo: Oohchisa Tunsiri/ Dreamstime)

iulian@romania-insider.com