Romanian Banking Association proposes the evaluation of loan collaterals based on statistical indexes

One of the regulations of the Romanian National Bank says that retail banks need to revaluate loan collaterals (cars, properties) at least once a year and these evaluations must be made for each collateral separately. Radu Graţian Gheţea, the chairman of the Romanian Banking Association and of "CEC" Bank, feels that the revaluations of collaterals can no longer be done individually. In this respect, the RBA says that there is a need for a methodology concerning the use of statistical indexes in the revaluation of collaterals, that could be set by specialized companies.

The RBA will discuss with the NBR the adjustment of these rules in order to get them in touch with the current market conditions, as individual evaluations aren"t possible anymore. "People from the Surveillance Department of the NBR would come in and find themselves unable to evaluate anything, prices would change constantly", Mr. Gheţea added.

Adrian Vasilescu, advisor to the governor of the NBR, Mugur Isărescu, explained that since there is a low number of real estate transactions, it isn"t always possible drawing conclusions on average prices.

The chairman of the Romanian Banking Association claims that together with the Central Bank he is participating in an intense process for adaptation to European requirements. For instance, the banks recently self-regulated on the matter of customer account migration. Radu Graţian Gheţea says that starting on May 1st banks will implement the European directive concerning the early reimbursement fee. "We don"t agree with having this provision apply retroactively, to mortgage loans or to those exceeding retroactive loans", said Radu Graţian Gheţea, who added that the RBA wants to apply the European Directive as-is.

Mr. Gheţea said he doesn"t agree with some of the fees which are extremely high. Some will be cut, but they will not be eliminated, because some loans are also long term", said Mr. Gheţea.