Although among the poorest citizens in the European Union, Romanians pay much higher interest rates for consumer loans or mortgages than other Europeans. One reason is high inflation, as banks in Romania adjust interest rates to this indicator, among others. Secondly, the Romanian economy is seen as more vulnerable than others, which triggers higher interest rates. And finally, Romanian banking institutions see higher financing costs than those in western Europe, and this is reflected in the interest rates charged to customers.<\/p>\n
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And, as if all this were not enough, in early June newsrooms across Romania dropped a bombshell: the Competition Council issued fines of over EUR 700 million for 10 of the largest banks in Romania. The banks in question are accused of having breached competition rules (the Competition Law and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) and of having coordinated their conduct in establishing the ROBOR index, based on which interest rates are calculated for any loans in the domestic currency taken out by all individuals and legal entities in Romania.<\/p>\n
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The ROBOR (an acronym for Romanian Interbank Offer Rate) is the interest rate at which banks in Romania borrow from each other in the national currency for short periods. In loans with a floating interest rate, interest is made up of two elements: a fixed one, negotiated with each bank and included in the contract, and a variable element, which is the reference index. If the ROBOR increases, the total interest rate and, obviously, monthly repayments also go up. In other words, the quality of life of a household or the success of a business that took out bank loans depends largely on the ROBOR.<\/p>\n
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The head of the Competition Council, Bogdan Chiri\u021boiu, explained the suspected ROBOR manipulation mechanism:<\/p>\n
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Bogdan Chiri\u021boiu: \u201cThe ROBOR index is important because it influences the interest rates that are paid on loans. The problem is that we cannot set it based on actual transactions so we use potential transactions instead. This is what ROBOR fixing means. Basically the question is: suppose you don’t plan to lend money to another bank for nine months, but if you were to lend it, for what price would you do it, for what interest rate? And that’s why the rules, which are European, not national rules, say that quotations must be independent. A bank must not look at what another bank is doing, it must not know what another bank is doing, so that they cannot coordinate and therefore take this index higher than it should be. Well, this is what happened here. Banks exchanged information, they could see and adjust to what other banks were doing and this distorts the setting of the ROBOR index. Is the influence great? ROBOR varies between a minimum and a maximum established by the central bank. So, the National Bank of Romania doesn’t let it rise above a certain level, it doesn’t let it fall below a certain level, but this whole margin is a few percentage points.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Predictably, the accusation that the ten banks colluded by exchanging confidential and strategic information in setting the ROBOR sparked anger, perplexity, and reactions from both loan beneficiaries and banks.<\/p>\n
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In the Romanian Parliament, the Social Democratic Senator Daniel Zamfir initiated a bill that aims to create a mechanism through which customers can be compensated in such cases:<\/p>\n
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Daniel Zamfir: \u201cIn the event that a public authority, such as the Competition Council or the Consumer Protection Authority finds that consumers have been harmed as a result of unfair competition practices or proven errors, banks have to correct the errors, recalculate contract obligations by applying a revised formula to all contracts, and fully refund the affected customers within 45 days of their request.\u201d<\/p>\n
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On the other hand, the banks in question announced they will challenge the fines in court, and vow that they have strictly complied with the relevant regulations. The National Bank also asked for clarifications from the Competition Council, dismissing any cartel allegations. But some analysts believe the effects of the Competition Council’s decision could go beyond the mere financial impact of the fines. One of them is the vice-president of CFA Romania, Alexandra Smedoiu, who believes that the procedure to set the ROBOR might be revised:<\/p>\n
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Alexandra Smedoiu: \u201cWe might see a rethinking of this mechanism, perhaps even its elimination. This means that basically there will no longer be a reference rate for medium and long-term loans, but only be a reference level for very short terms.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Over one million Romanians were allegedly affected by the manipulation of ROBOR, which means missed opportunities for many people, from holidays that they gave up to money that was no longer saved for children, postponed renovations or investments in education. Without a voluntary correction of contracts and payment of damages by banks, tens or even hundreds of thousands of lawsuits could follow. And, of course, public confidence in the banking system could be seriously shaken. (AMP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Although among the poorest citizens in the European Union, Romanians pay much higher interest rates for consumer loans or mortgages than other Europeans. One reason is high inflation, as banks in Romania adjust interest rates to this indicator, among others. Secondly, the Romanian economy is seen as more vulnerable than others, which triggers higher interest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":1029403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[34369,36650,34491,31777,188654,169569],"coauthors":[115219],"class_list":["post-1031867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-banks","tag-index","tag-interest","tag-loans","tag-rate-2","tag-robor-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n