The ministry issued a statement on its website following a press release by the Croatian Banking Association earlier today.
The ministry said that banks had deliberately, despite warnings and from the Croatian National Bank (HNB) too, been offering and approving loans pegged to the Swiss franc and that only the debtor bore the risk. The amendments will define a legal and just way of calculating interest rates on consumer loans, it added.
Given the lack of regulation for loan contracts signed before 1 January 2010, the state has the obligation to intervene and also establish the equality of citizens who took those loans, the ministry said.
The HNB predicted on Monday that the financial impact of the amendments on the banking sector would be nearly HRK 760 million, two-fifths of the net profit estimated for this year, and that the biggest impact, of HRK 645.2 million, would come from a lower interest rate on loans pegged to the Swiss franc.
The HNB said the amendments could have a years-long negative impact on banks' revenues, affecting their potential to lend and absorb shocks as well as resulting in stronger deleveraging.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.6)