Deputies postpone debate on Ordinance 50 again, this time for lack of quorum

The debate over Ordinance 50/2010, which introduces a transparent method of calculating loan interest rates and limits the early repayment fee, which featured on Tuesday's agenda of the Budget and Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, was suspended for lack of quorum.

Two weeks ago deputies had postponed talks in order to allow enough time for amendments to be submitted, amid strong interest both from customer associations, and from bankers. At stake is the method of establishing the interest rate on ongoing loans with varying instalments. Customers ask for the interest rate to be calculated based on an independent indicator (Robor or Euribor), with the margin provided for in the contract to be kept, although originally the interest rate was calculated based on an internal indicator, which would lead to significant cost cuts. The NBR (National Bank of Romania has calculated that bankers could lose up to 600 million euros this year.