Banking Association Does Not Support Interest Rate Stop

The Hungarian Banking Association says was surprised to learn of the government decision about freezing retail mortgage interest rates for a six-month period from January announced this Wednesday. 

The Association issued a statement this Thursday stressing that the key role of the banking sector is to provide long-term, predictable and sustainable financing for the economy, which the market itself can best provide in a market economy. The Hungarian banking sector played an active role in the fight against the epidemic, during which time payment services were uninterrupted and new lending reached record levels. Thanks to this, the V-shaped economic recovery "came together." The Hungarian financial sector also contributed more than anyone else to the fight against the epidemic by paying the special epidemic tax on credit institutions and by granting the longest moratorium in Europe.

The statement continues that in recent years, the banking sector, in cooperation with the central bank, has offered affected customers an annual switch to fixed-rate loans, and has explicitly pushed for the use of fixed-rate loan products for new loans for several years. It has repeatedly drawn the attention of the public and customers to the need to do so. For the above reasons, the Banking Association cannot support the temporary fixing of interest rates at the expense of the Hungarian banking sector for those customers who, despite repeated calls, opted for riskier variable-rate loans.