The Croatian government and executives of eight banks on Friday signed a memorandum on alleviating the problems of users of housing loans denominated in Swiss francs through the prolongation of the loan repayment.
The Swiss franc hit a record high against the Croatian kuna on Thursday, with the medium exchange rate of one franc for HRK 6.158 on the Croatian National Bank's exchange rate list.
The government and the banks signed the memorandum wishing to help citizens who have problems due to the appreciation of the Swiss franc, Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor today
Bankers welcomed the document for providing a standard solution for the servicing of loans
Bozo Prka of the Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ) said that the Greece's debt crisis had instilled fears cautioning investors against the euro and strengthening the Swiss franc to unforeseen levels.
Marko Remenar of the Zagrebacka Banka (ZABA) said that the banks were aware of the situation of their clients and that he hoped that their monthly installments would be reduced.
The memorandum binds commercial banks to enable in the next two years the extension of the servicing of the loan as well as its shortening, if this is asked by loan users.
The banks will not charge this technical service of changing the time for loan repayment.
Also, public notaries will considerably reduce the charges of their services in those proceedings.
The extension of loan servicing will reduce the amount of the monthly installment.
According to the Croatian National Bank, nearly one fourth of retail loans in Croatia are credits pegged to the Swiss franc. Broken down by the type of loan, 52.9 percent of those loans are for the car purchase and housing loans account for 41.5 percent.
