Social Democrat (PSD) senator Daniel Zamfir announced he submitted a bill that obliges credit institutions to compensate debtors harmed by unfair competitive practices or interest calculation errors, after such situations are detected by the competent authorities, according to Financialintelligence.ro. The move came after the competition body announced a record EUR 710 million fine for ten banks accused of colluding on ROBOR fixing, although the final decision was not drafted yet, and the banks already announced they would challenge the ruling in court. 

“[...] Banks are compelled to correct the errors found, recalculate contractual obligations by applying a revised calculation formula to all contracts and fully refund the damage proven following the investigation," Zamfir explained.

MP Zamfir argued that the project offers banks the possibility of an amicable settlement, without long-term litigation.

"I have made it possible in the law for this mediation mechanism to exist, through which it can be established that this index has been manipulated. Of course, if the banks want to go to court, I publicly warn them that this would mean paying a much larger amount of compensation than they must grant to people," he said.

The PSD senator specified that the draft law also includes sanctions for credit institutions that do not comply with the obligations to recalculate and restitution of damages.

Lawyer and MEP Gheorghe Piperea (AUR) previously urged debtors with ROBOR-linked loans to sue the banks. According to his calculations, this concerns, among others, about 350,000 clients from the Prima Casă (First House) scheme and about 50,000 companies. The damage for them would be about 20%-25% paid extra in instalments over the last eight years.

The Competition Council's decision, once published, will be the basis for legal proceedings to recover by customers the inflated interest rates paid to banks as a result of this cartel practice. This concerns the period 2018-2026.

In the meantime, the conflict between banks and the competition body remains on the public agenda due to its potential impact on debtors. The competition body’s president, Bogdan Chiritoiu, showed bits of the reasoned decision, to be drafted within four months by the law, but probably after a month in this case. From his statement, the competition body blames the ten banks for collusion (a broader term involving anticompetition practices) – but he avoided the term cartelisation (which consists of achieving market control).

In international practice, the collusion can be proven by indirect evidence such as pricing and other practices (aimed at eliminating outliers) – but this requires large amounts of data. 

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)