• In 42 de localitati medii si mari din Romania, BCR poate acorda credite ipotecare cu avans de 25%, in urma calibrarii riscurilor de creditare; avansul scade la 15%, daca perioada de acordare a creditului este de maxim 20 de ani.
• Dana Demetrian, Vicepresedinte Retail BCR: „Avem o responsabilitate fata de accesibilitatea creditului ipotecar. Ne straduim sa oferim solutii reale la problema calitatii scazute a fondului locativ din Romania”.
• BCR reitereaza estimarile conform carora legea Darea in Plata creeaza premise negative, care vor genera inegalitati sociale.

Under the lending risk circumstances created by the Giving in Payment Law, BCR has identified solutions for reducing the down payments for mortgage loans, by a prudent approach and a calibration of the lending risk, depending on the regional developments. As a result, BCR has extended the list of towns, where it can offer standard mortgage loans with a down payment of 25%, to 42 towns (see Appendix 1), based on the following arguments:

1. the real estate market in medium and large-sized towns is experiencing an accelerated dynamic, but also a higher level of liquidity.
2. the solution is meant to help customers who are forced to own a larger down payment, considering the higher prices of housing in medium and large-sized towns.
3. the large majority of mortgage loan applicants are concentrated in medium and large-sized urban areas.

In the same time, the bank has decided to reduce the down payment for mortgage investment loans to 15% for mortgage loans granted in any of the 42 towns, if the loan period is of maximum 20 years.

Dana Demetrian, Retail Vice-President at BCR: BCR has permanently devoted itself to the mission of being the largest and the most accessible mortgage lender in Romania.  We have identified solutions for reducing the down payments for mortgage loans, despite the risks created by the Giving in Payment Law, because we have a responsibility in regard to the accessibility of mortgage loans in Romania. We are striving to offer a real solution to the issue of low-quality housing stock in Romania: old, crowded, and cramped housing, in need of modernization and rehabilitation and even with high seismic risk.

In this context, Banca Comercială Română reconfirms its estimates according to which the Giving in Payment Law creates negative premises that will generate social inequalities, despite the fact that the banking institutions will find solutions for reducing the down payments for mortgage loans for specific categories of customers.

Two months after the Giving in Payment Law became effective, BCR has released an analysis according to which the banking institutions in Romania will not be able to ignore the general risk created by the Giving in Payment Law, but will be able to identify only individual solutions, depending on the customers’ profile and the liquidity of regional real estate markets.  According to this analysis, down payments will be more calibrated, but for the customers this means in fact a shorter loan period or stricter income criteria.  

BCR reiterates the fact that the Giving in Payment Law was elaborated in an erroneous (and possibly unconstitutional) paradigm, representing a financial instability risk and reducing the credibility of the local investment environment.

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Banca Comercială Română (BCR), a member of Erste Group, is the most important financial group in Romania, including universal bank operations (retail, corporate & investment banking, treasury and capital markets), as well as companies in industries such as leasing, private pension, and mortgage banks. BCR is the no. 1 bank in Romania based on the value of the assets (EUR 14.4 billion), the no. 1 bank based on the number of customers and the no. 1 bank for the savings and loan segments. BCR is the most valuable financial brand in Romania by customer trust and by the number of people for whom BCR is the main institution for banking services.

BCR offers its entire range of financial products and services by means of 22 business centres and 23 mobile offices dedicated to companies and 510 retail units in most of the cities throughout the entire country with more than 10,000 inhabitants. BCR is the no. 1 bank in Romania on the banking transaction market, BCR customers benefiting from the largest national ATM network - more than 2,000 dispensers - and the largest national POS network - 13,500 credit card terminals, as well as from comprehensive Internet banking, phone-banking and e-commerce services. 

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Erste Group is one of the main financial service providers in the Eastern part of the European Union. 46,500 employees serve 16.2 million customers within 2,800 branches in 7 countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia). At the end of the first quarter of 2015, Erste Group had total assets amounting to 202.6 billion Euros and had a cost/income ratio of 56.1%. The Tier 1 Common Capital Ratio (Basel 3 completely implemented) amounted to 10.2%.

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BCR - External Communication

Ionuţ Stanimir, e-mail: ionut.stanimir@bcr.ro

This information is also available on our website: www.bcr.ro

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