Romanian BCR Restructures Loans For 2,500 Late Payers

Most of the restructurings aimed mortgage loans taken by individuals who were not late before the crisis started in October-November last year, Coroianu said.

The bank granted grace periods, decreased the installments or increased the loan maturity, according to the clients’ specific issues.

Coroianu added that 63% of the payments of the loans subject to restructuring were resumed.

Nevertheless, Coroianu considers the number of restructured loans will increase given that the long-term solution would be to adapt the monthly payments to the client’s possibilities.

In June 2009, BCR’s total loans portfolio before provisions, rose by 1.8% at 45.84 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.2382), in accordance with IFRS.

The corporate loans segment holds a 49.3% share in the total loans, while retail segment, including micro-plants, holds a 50.7% share.

BCR, owned by Austria’s Erste Group, is Romania’s largest lender by assets, which total over EUR17.1 billion.