Commercial Banks In Romania Stand To Loose 900M Euro If Complying With EU Legislation

The Romanian Association of Commercial Banks in Romania, or ARB, wants to hire a law firm to get a legal opinion on the issue of having the EU Directive 48/CE/2008 adopted in the Romanian law.

Bringing banking business in Romania in line with EU law would cause the banks operating here an estimated 900 million in loss, the ARB found, after it became mandatory to calculate interest rates on the basis of the EURIBOR/ LIBOR/EURIBOR rate, and not on their own in-house rates. The Directive became effective domestically in June, with the Government Emergency Ordinance 50/2010.

In essence, the law protects clients from banks' actions, with forbidding the latter charge for anticipated payment of credits or making mandatory a transparent calculus of the interest rates, which the banks cannot change unilaterally after the contract had been signed.

Also in recent weeks disgruntled clients with the banks' behavior, which they deem abusive, prompted them organize online, to take the banks to court.
Translated by AAP