All eight commercial banks that lost a lawsuit to Potrosac, a consumer protection group, over loans indexed in Swiss francs announced their appeals, the Zagreb Commercial Court reported on Tuesday.
Spokeswoman for the Court Anita Brlas forwarded a statement to Hina news agency saying that the deadline for the appeals was 12 July.
The court declined to speculate when a ruling by the High Commercial Court could be expected. Potrosac however believes there will be no procrastination, given the social dimension of the case.
The Commercial Court recently ruled in favour of the suit filed by Potrosac on behalf of 100,000 citizens who had in the past decade taken loans pegged to the franc, three-quarters of them housing loans.
The loans had been offered at a variable interest rate, at a time when the franc was relatively weak. But the Swiss currency rose sharply in value after the global financial crisis started in 2008, leading to higher monthly instalments for clients.
On top of that, the banks raised interest rates, citing higher costs of capital and money market rates. As a result, monthly instalments rose on average by around 50 percent.
Judge Radovan Dobronic, who ruled in favour of the claimant, said the banks had violated the interest of their clients by "changing the interest rates in an untransparent manner".
"This was against the law on consumer protection ... Such behaviour of banks is forbidden in the future," Dobronic said, adding the banks had failed to provide all details to customers so that loan seekers could make an informed decision.
He called upon the banks to reach a settlement with the clients.
The banks - Zagrebacka Bank, Privredna Bank, Erste, Raiffeisenbank, Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank, OTP, Splitska Bank and Sberbanke - opted for an appeal.
