Raiffeisen adds to the news that it is accepting the conversion of loans from Francs to lei

Raiffeisen Bank reacted to the article published yesterday in BURSA, titled «Piperea: "Raiffeisen accepts the conversion of some loans denominated in Swiss francs at the exchange rate valid at the time they were granted"», through two successive messages, which attempt to deny the news.

The first message:

"Today's issue of the BURSA newspaper headlines on the front page a piece of information that is untrue, a situation which can not persist out of respect for your readers and for our clients.

The article writes that lawyer Gheorghe Piperea has stated that "Raiffeisen accepts the conversion of loans into Swiss francs at the exchange rate valid at the time they were granted".

In the name of Raiffeisen Bank, please allow me to state that that is untrue."

Yes it is.

Lawyer Gheorghe Piperea has told us exactly that.

We have the signature of Mr. Piperea on the text of his statement, therefore, out of respect for our readers and for your clients, allow me to tell you that the article in BURSA is accurate.

Of course, we notice that what you meant to say is different than what you are actually saying and that you did not realize that you are actually contesting that lawyer Gheorghe Piperea actually told us what he did.

We realize that your intention is to deny that Raiffeisen has accepted the conversion of loans into Swiss Francs at the exchange rate valid at the time they were granted, but you did not know how to word it properly.

Which of course, is less important than the issue of the loan conversion, but it is unacceptable to accuse BURSA of having published an inaccurate article because you can't phrase your statements correctly.

The second message:

"Raiffeisen Bank will always take into consideration the wish of its customers that have loans denominated in Swiss francs and will find out the best solution, based on their individual situation. The conversion in lei could be one of those solutions, as is the negotiation of some terms or costs or the extension of the repayment deadline etc.

Speaking strictly about the conversion of loans denominated in Swiss Francs, the bank can only do it at the exchange rate valid on the date of the conversion, with the interest rate applicable to the new currency on the same date, which is what the bank has always stated.

In the situation that the article is referring to, lawyer Gheorghe Piperea has asked the court for the conversion of a loan denominated in Swiss Francs at the historic exchange rate, without mentioning anything about the cost of the loan denominated in lei at that time. The bank has notified the court that in the case of the conversion in lei, the terms that should apply would be those applicable to loans denominated in lei at the time. Under such a situation, the customer would have to retroactively repay very large amounts in lei (sometimes almost double), given that the interest rate for loans denominated in lei was 11-17% in 2007-2008 instead of the 6-7% that it was for loans denominated in Swiss francs".

I do not know if this second message is affected by similar flaws in its wording, but in its current form, it does not invalidate the statement of Mr. Piperea, which sounds as follows: "Raiffeisen Bank has accepted for the conversion of the loans from Swiss Francs to lei to be done at the exchange rate applicable at the time they were granted and at the current interest rate of the bank, which may be negotiated".

What Mr. Piperea stated is not contradicted by the message of Raiffeisen; the two statements intersect, because Raiffeisen does not rule out the conversion of the loan in lei, at the historic exchange rate, rather, it adds clarifications that such an operation may not be beneficial to clients.

We repeat, this judgment is valid based on the text, but we cannot know whether the text of Raiffeisen is flawed when it comes to its wording.

In order to avoid such confusing situations in the future, we want to ask the communication departments to keep their emotions in check and rigorously evaluate their public communication formulas.