The National Bank of Romania is currently undertaking the procedure of licensing the credit co-operation organisations. These organisations have functioned under the name of credit co-operatives - popular banks, with powers and duties stated by Law No. 109/1996.
The first condition for credit co-operatives - popular banks to apply for and obtain a licence was to register with the National Bank of Romania in the autumn of 2000.
The National Bank of Romania announced the list of the credit co-operative organisations - popular banks registered according to the regulations in force. Only these organisations were allowed to request by 13 February 2001 to be licensed by the National Bank of Romania, in virtue of Art. 248 of Romania's Government Emergency Ordinance No. 97/2000 on credit co-operative organisations, as added and amended by Romania's Government Emergency Ordinance No. 272/2000.
Consistent with Art. 246 of Romania's Government Emergency Ordinance No. 97/2000 et seq., the credit co-operative organisations - popular banks that have not applied for a licence by the said date shall be dissolved by law and shall enter into liquidation, in conformity with Law 109/1996 on the organisation and functioning of credit co-operations.
In order to have an up-to-date record and to avoid possible errors, the National Bank of Romania requested that credit co-operatives - popular banks to be wound up should submit a report on their legal status by 3 March 2001. Based on the collected data and information, the National Bank of Romania has drawn up the List of credit co-operative organisations - popular banks that did not apply for a licence and are not affiliated to any of the networks which requested a preliminary set-up/reorganisation approval. The List consists of two parts - A and B - and is to be sent to the Ministry of Public Finance, the Trade Register and to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. These institutions will take the appropriate steps, according to their competencies and duties, for the beginning, monitoring and ending of winding-up procedures for such organisations.
Household deposits with the organisations included in the List are not guaranteed. In order to recover them, individuals should send their claims directly to these organisations or to the competent Court.
The credit co-operative organisations - popular banks in course of licensing are not yet supervised by the National Bank of Romania, nor are they members of the Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund.
The licensing procedure for the credit co-operative organisations - popular banks which submitted applications to the National Bank of Romania pursuant to Art. 252 of Romania's Government Emergency Ordinance No. 97/2000 et seq., may take as long as 18 months from the date when the application was registered. However, going through the three stages of this process does not imply that the licence will be automatically obtained afterwards.
Against this background, we inform the interested parties that this transition period does not justify any abusive practices of credit co-operatives - popular banks, such as the payment refusal or the rescheduling of deposits made with credit co-operative organisations, binding the depositors to transform their deposits into shares a. s. o. Consequently, during the licensing procedure the credit co-operative organisations - popular banks have to carry out their activity as usual and to fulfil their obligations. The persons facing difficulties in collecting the amounts deposited with the credit co-operative organisations - popular banks should address to them, as the responsibility lies directly with their management. Concurrently, the depositors have the obligation and the right to use the statutory ways for solving the incurring problems. As a last resort, they should file a petition in Court, in case that the credit co-operative organisations - popular banks do not pay out their deposits.