Members of the Legal Commission from the Chamber of Deputies agreed to remove the First House program from the law on debt discharge and the credit ceiling to which the law will be applied reaches EUR 250,000. This was an amendment requested by bankers and the representatives of National Bank of Romania (BNR).
Also, they voted that the amendment on the debt discharge law to be applied only to loans for housing or land purchase. This controversial law, disapproved even by the European Commission, will enter on Wednesday at final vote in the Chamber of Deputies. He mentioned that the First House program will have no future if the law will be applied.
In turn, Radu Gratian Ghetea, president and CEO of CEC Bank, as well as chairman of the Romanian Banking Association (ARB) expressed his hope that President Klaus Iohannis will send the quoted law to the Constitutional Court if it will be approved by Parliament in a form that will harm the banking sector.
The current draft of the law allowing retail mortgage borrowers to return real estate collateral to banks in exchange for writing off their loans could disrupt the Romanian banking sector’s improving performance, Fitch Ratings also noted few weeks ago.