Romanian BCR Eyes Loans Of EUR450M Within "First Home" Program

Romania’s largest lender Banca Comerciala Romana estimates it would grant euro-denominated loans worth of EUR450 million, at an interest rate equal to the Euribor rate plus 3.8 percentage points, with a loan granting fee of 0.017%, BCR officials told MEDIAFAX.

10 views

“We sent the offer for the “First House” program to the Finance Ministry and the Guarantee Fund for small- and medium-sized enterprises and we are launching a special product dedicated to the program,” BCR officials said.

BCR did not make any offer for Romanian leu-denominated loans, while the rest of the conditions are those stipulated by the government.

Romanian lenders Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit Tiriac Bank also deposed offers within the "First House" program, and eye granted loans worth EUR50 million and EUR25 million, respectively.

UniCredit Tiriac Bank officials said the bank will lend at the maximum interest rate accepted by the state, while representatives of Intesa Sanpaolo did not give any details on the interest rate they would ask.

CEC Bank will grant only RON-denominated loans and the bank asked for a guarantee limit of EUR95 million.

The first seven banks that have sent offers within "First House" program are Banca Transilvania, Leumi Bank, BRD, ATE, Raiffeisen Bank, Millenium and Volksbank, according to Romania's Guarantee Fund for small- and medium-sized enterprises SMEs Aurel Saramet.

Raiffeisen Bank Romania set an initial limit of EUR50 million for loans within the “First House” program, the bank's deputy president for retail Razvan Munteanu said Wednesday.

Millenium Bank representatives told MEDIAFAX on Thursday that the maximum threshold to take part at the “First House” program is estimated by the bank at EUR30 million, but they do not exclude the possibility of supplementing this sum afterwards.

Banking sources also told MEDIAFAX on Thursday that Piraeus Bank and Bancpost plan to offer loans worth EUR100 million and EUR50 million respectively in the “First House” program.

Later on, Piraeus Bank corroborated the information, saying that it asked for a guarantee threshold of EUR100 million.

Also, Bank Leumi pledged to grant EUR10 million loans. Bank Leumi will ask for leu loans an interest rate equal to ROBOR plus 245 basis points, while for euro loans the rate will be of Euribor plus 395 basis points, the bank said.

The Romanian government received offers from 18 banks with a total value of EUR1.4 billion for the “First House” program, Finance Minister Gheorghe Pogea told MEDIAFAX Thursday.

Pogea has previously said Guarantee Fund for small- and medium-sized enterprises loans will allocate pro rata the financing if the total value of guarantees requested by the banks is above EUR1 billion.

The government recently launched a program that aims at guaranteeing the loans to build or buy a dwelling. The guarantee, offered by the guarantee fund for SMEs, will amount to EUR60,000 at most and will be granted to the people buying their first home and who did not previously benefit from a mortgage loan.

The Romanian Government published last Thursday in the Official Gazette the methodological norms at the "First House" program and the banks had a seven-day period to decide on whether they agree the lending terms set by the Government. The deadline expires Thursday.

Thus, to buy a home via the “First House” program, interested people must pay a 5% downpayment of the purchase price for a house whose price is lower or equal to EUR60,000, or a downpayment of EUR3,000 plus the difference between the purchase price of the respective house and EUR60,000, if the price is higher than EUR60,000.

Furthermore, for euro-denominated loans, interest rates will be computed on EURIBOR (Euro Interbank Offered Rate) rates at three months plus a margin of maximum 4%, while for lei-denominated loans, interest rates will be computed on ROBOR (Romanian Interbank Offered Rate) rates at three months plus a margin of 2.5%.

The three-month’ EURIBOR rate fell to its minimum level of 1.206% this week, while the ROBOR rate was around 10.3% on Thursday.

If you liked this story, please follow MEDIAFAX.RO on FACEBOOK »

The content of mediafax.ro is for your information only. Republishing or using this content is forbidden without express consent of MEDIAFAX. For this consent, please ask for it by mail at vanzari@mediafax.ro.