Retail loans more expensive since June

After having tried to attract clients with interest rates as low as one-digit for loans in RON in the spring, the banks reversed the trend and made retail credits more expensive in June, which is a first for the last six months.
The APR for the consumer loans in RON went up by more than 0.5% to 17.8% in June, after having reached a two years and a half low the month before, NBR data reveal. Analysts say the enforcement of the Emergency Ordinance on retail loans has forced banks to tie the cost of loans to a transparent indicator, so that the clients are now exposed to the fluctuations of interbank interest rates.
“New loans are, as required by the law, tied to ROBOR and as long as interest rates on the interbank market have gone up, it is only natural that loans would become more expensive, too. Clients are now exposed to the risk of interbank rate fluctuations unlike before when they were shielded by controlled rates,” comments Lucian Anghel, BCR’s chief economist.
Bankers are now saying that interests on loans to consumers will stay at the current levels at best over the coming months.