October 18 (SeeNews) - Romania's parliament approved unanimously on Tuesday a bill to help Swiss franc borrowers convert their mortgage loans into local leu currency at historical rates.
All 248 MPs present in the Chamber of Deputies voted in favour of the law, according to data posted on the parliament website.
The bill has to be approved by president Klaus Iohannis to enter into force. The upper chamber, the Senate, passed the bill earlier this year
On Monday, parliamentary committees removed a previously voted amendment which had set a ceiling of 250,000 Swiss francs ($255,125/228,361 euro) for the loans that will be converted at the exchange rate, at which they were taken.
Thousands of home-buyers in Romania had taken out Swiss franc-denominated mortgage loans over the past 15 years, attracted by low interest rates.
On January 15, 2015, the Swiss National Bank decided to scrap a cap against the euro it introduced in September 2011. Following the decision, the Swiss franc appreciated sharply. Its exchange rate was set at 4.43632 lei ($1.1/0.98 euro) on Wednesday from 3.7415 lei on January 14, according to data from Romania's central bank.
Most banks in Romania have announced they will cut interest rates or freeze the currency exchange rates for their clients with Swiss franc-denominated mortgage loans in a bid to lower repayment costs.
Last week, Fitch Ratings said that the Swiss franc loan conversion bill will have no immediate rating impact on banks in Romania once the legislation is implemented.
"This is because CHF loans represent a negligible portion of overall lending at most of the banks rated by us and, where CHF portfolios are larger, sufficient reserves have been set aside to absorb potential conversion losses," Fitch said.
(1 euro = 4.4890 lei)