The National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) has won the trial with local lender OTP Bank.

The court removed the contractual clause that allowed the bank to unilaterally modify interest, according to its own internal policy.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal yesterday confirmed the sentence of the Bucharest Court from August last year. The sentence is final and represents a first for Romania, as it is the first trial between a bank and the Consumer Protection Authority on unfair terms that receives a final sentence.

OTP will have to remove the clause that allows the bank to modify the interest rate according to its own policy from all its mortgage loans.

The sentence doesn’t force the bank to return the money received from the clients due to increasing the interest rates. However, people can go to court to ask for their money.

editor@romania-insider.com