Romanian BCR Restructures Loans For 2,500 Late Payers

Romania's largest lender Banca Comerciala Romana, or BCR, restructured loans for just 2,500 individuals, although it has contacted around 90,000 customers in this respect, Tuesday said Stefan Coroianu, head of the bank' s retail loans division.

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.

http://www.mediafax.ro/engleza/romanian-bcr-restructures-loans-for-2-500-late-payers-4873976