Banca Naţională a României

The National Bank of Romania highlights the fact that borrowers’ payment obligations to credit institutions and non-bank financial institutions, which were suspended in accordance with Government Emergency Ordinance No. 37/2020 (GEO No. 37/2020), are not recorded in the Central Credit Register (CCR) as overdue payments, but in a manner entirely different from the default events registered in the CCR. Consequently, payment delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic should not be related to the notion of borrower’s financial distress and hence do not negatively affect the relations of borrowers (natural and legal entities) with banks.

NBR Regulation No. 3/2020 amending Regulation No. 2/2012 on the organisation and functioning of the Central Credit Register operated by the National Bank of Romania shows explicitly these qualitative differences regarding the registration of loans, so that the facilities set forth by GEO No. 37/2020 should not affect the bankability of customers resorting to this provision. The manner of registration in the CCR of suspended payment obligations pursuant to GEO No. 37/2020 points to the completely different approach of loan restructuring used in the pandemic-led situation, so that it should not be viewed as a borrower’s specific problem.

In a public statement, the National Union of Road Hauliers from Romania (UNTRR) interprets utterly incorrectly the fact that, based on NBR Regulations, the suspended payment obligations registered in the Central Credit Register have a negative impact on borrowers by limiting their access to banking services in the future.

The NBR states that natural and legal entities that have resorted to the facilities stipulated in GEO No. 37/2020 are not considered non-bankable customers and this does not affect in any way their relations with banks once payments are resumed. Nevertheless, the NBR underlines that the lending decision is the creditor’s internal decision that complies with the creditor’s lending policy.