“We didn’t impose limits on foreign mortgage lending,” Isarescu told a news conference.
He said the draft regulation published last month will remain broadly unchanged, save for a few modifications agreed with the commercial banks.
The central bank’s Board will discuss the new regulations later today.
According to the draft released in September, the central bank plans to introduce a series of new measures to discourage consumer lending in foreign currency.
The new rules stipulate Romanian banks will have to reduce the maturity of consumer loans to five years from 20 currently, while extending minimum guarantees to 133% of the loan’s value.
For mortgage loans, bank customers must pay at least 30% upfront for financing in euros and 15% minimum for leu-denominated loans. The down payment for lending in other foreign currency was set at 40% minimum.