Almost 8,000 people and companies in Romania asked the banks to stop paying their installments

The banks in Romania received 7,872 requests for the suspension of payment obligations of installments, interest and commissions, from natural and legal person customers, until August 29, 2022.

The requests came in accordance with the provisions of Ordinance 90/2022 regarding the granting of facilities for loans granted by banks and non-banking financial institutions to certain categories of debtors, according to the data of the Romanian Banks Association collected from banks that total a market share of 94% according to of assets.

Individuals submitted 7,649 requests based on the legislative moratorium related to 2022 through which they can benefit from the suspension of installments for a period of up to nine months, representing approximately 97% of the total, while legal entities submitted 223 requests.

Almost half of the customer requests, which qualified under the conditions provided by Ordinance 90/2022, were resolved by August 29, 2022, the rest being resolved after that date.

More than 26,000 borrowers exchanged the ROBOR index with IRCC

In the first eight months of 2022, Romanian banks continued to apply proactive support measures for customers in temporary financial difficulty of payment, so the number of solutions based on the banks’ own measures is 16,184. 15,547 natural persons and 637 legal persons benefited from the proactive measures applied by credit institutions, the number of clients being double compared to the one related to the application of the legislative moratorium.

Approximately 26,177 natural person debtors opted for changing the ROBOR index with IRCC in their credit contracts in the first eight months of the year, within the banks where they initially contracted the loan. The switch from ROBOR index to IRCC in old lei contracts can be done with the consent of both parties, both the consumer and the bank, and if it happens, it is irreversible. Interests calculated according to IRCC are variable, so a consumer can expect the rate increase determined by the increase of IRCC.

Another 1,421 natural person debtors requested the change of the ROBOR index with the fixed interest in the contract during the first eight months of 2022, also at the credit institution where they initially held the loan. In the first eight months of the current year, a number of 54,024 individual customers opted for refinancing the loan at another bank.

Banks have settled more than 700,000 requests from customers

In the context of higher-than-expected inflation and interest rates, customers experiencing temporary financial difficulties in paying the loan have the option to turn to the lending bank for restructuring measures to avoid the loan becoming non-performing.

Banks continue to support financially affected customers through individual solutions, calibrated to specific needs, in order to prevent a crisis at an economic and social level. Thus, credit institutions absorb the liquidity problems faced by the population and debtor companies whose incomes were affected by the situation generated by the pandemic and by the negative effects propagated against the background of the conflict in Ukraine and the energy crisis. From the perspective of the existing solutions, there is no universal recommended recipe because the future evolutions of the general context are not known.

In a concerted effort with the state authorities, through the effect of the legislative moratorium, as well as through individual measures, in the first two years of the pandemic, the banks solved over 700,000 requests from customers. This statistic also includes measures to postpone the payment of interest for credit cards.

The Romanian banking sector is solid and resilient, the solvency indicator being 21.43% as of June 2022. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the indicators of the banking system have allowed a proactive approach, absorbing customer problems and increasing lending in a sustained rhythm.