A group of large banks wants a new form of contract from the Guarantee Fund before starting to sell loans.
BCR, the biggest player in the "First House" programme, with an approved ceiling of 308m euros out of a total of one billion euros, is postponing loan sales and asking for the convention concluded with the Loan Guarantee Fund to be modified for some stipulations mainly related to the mortgage regime to be cleared up.
Other major banks such as Raiffeisen, UniCredit Tiriac, Bancpost and ING, have not entered the programme, either, demanding that some contractual stipulations be clarified, in a move carried out through the Romanian Banking Association (ARB).
The above-mentioned lending institutions are practically waiting for the publication of a new form of the convention that has to be sealed with the Fund and a new government decision would be needed should authorities agree with the called-for modifications, according to banking sources.
The Fund representatives could not be contacted for clarifications, but Bodgan Dragoi, the Finance Ministry secretary of state in charge with the "First House" programme, states that the banks’ demands have not reached the ministry and at this moment there is no question about modifying the convention.
"Discussions are only held between banks and the Guarantee Fund and no request has reached us. I don’t understand this move as originally all the 20 banks accepted in the programme agreed with the product. I know that on Thursday there were already 12 banks that had finalised necessary documents and were registered with the Fund. However, we can see what the other banks’ problems are and we’ll do our best for the loans to start being released," Dragoi told ZF.
"We’re standing by our initial commitment, having the biggest exposure in the programme. We just want to clear up legal details, so that we should not create confusion among customers claiming additional documents from them at a later date," commented Cornel Cojocaru, a communication officer with BCR.
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