Retail loans more expensive since June
After having tried to attract clients with interest rates as low
as one-digit for loans in RON in the spring, the banks reversed the
trend and made retail credits more expensive in June, which is a
first for the last six months.
The APR for the consumer loans in RON went up by more than 0.5% to
17.8% in June, after having reached a two years and a half low the
month before, NBR data reveal. Analysts say the enforcement of the
Emergency Ordinance on retail loans has forced banks to tie the
cost of loans to a transparent indicator, so that the clients are
now exposed to the fluctuations of interbank interest rates.
"New loans are, as required by the law, tied to ROBOR and as long
as interest rates on the interbank market have gone up, it is only
natural that loans would become more expensive, too. Clients are
now exposed to the risk of interbank rate fluctuations unlike
before when they were shielded by controlled rates," comments
Lucian Anghel, BCR's chief economist.
Bankers are now saying that interests on loans to consumers will
stay at the current levels at best over the coming months.