Romania`s government to redistribute EUR 220-280m within the "Prima Casa" incentive program
The government will withdraw 220-280 million euros from 7-8 banks involved in the "Prima Casa" program, as these failed to use the funds, and will split the money between the lenders that granted the most credits, said the head of the National Fund for Credit Guarantees (FNGCIMM), Aurel Saramet.
He mentioned the lenders that offered most of the credits are BRD SocGen, Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), Banca Transilvania, Alpha Bank, Volksbank and Raiffeisen Bank. The first four banks covered 88 percent of the amounts contracted so far.
Three lenders registered in the “Prima Casa” incentive program did not grant any loan, while other four or five banks spent 0.1 – 3 percent of the available money.
Saramet added 25.5 percent of the 4,800 houses bought through this program so far were built after 2008.
Some 20 banks handed in offers to participate at the “Prima Casa” program. These were BCR, BRD-SocGen, Raiffeisen Bank, CEC Bank, Alpha Bank, Volksbank, Banca Transilvania, Bancpost, Banca Romaneasca, Piraeus Bank, Bank Leumi, ATEbank, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, Credit Europe Bank, OTP Bank, Unicredit Tiriac Bank, ING Bank, Emporiki, Millennium Bank and Garanti Bank.
ING Bank subsequently announced it wants to exit the program and that it will launch a similar product, in the limit of 80,000 euros for each loan.
The government established a ceiling for credits granted through the Prima Casa program at 1 billion euros and each bank was alloted a limit in the volume of the loans through the pro-rata system, depending on the offer initially filed.