BCR launches new lending norms

BCR (Romanian Commercial Bank) is expecting to see its credit sales double over the next few months, after it started granting loans under its own regulations on Monday, allowing for instalments of up to 65% of the applicant’s income, against the former 35%. The bank secured the approval of the NBR (National Bank of Romania) to operate its own crediting norms midway through June, but put off the launch in order to install an appropriate IT system. In its first stage, the bank will accept a client indebtedness level of up to 65% (depending on the risk profile), which will be applied both to consumer and home equity loans. The bank has neither modified interest rates, nor it is giving up the down payment for real estate credits for the time being. “We are waiting to see what impact the new norms will have on prices on the real estate market. In the course of the next six months, we will also start providing positive data to the Credit Bureau and subsequently modify the norms, so that we can have a zero down payment for real estate credits for selected clients,” stated Dorin Cojocaru, executive manager of retail credits at BCR.