Other measures and activities

Published: 7/6/2024
In addition to the legally binding macroprudential policy instruments, the Croatian National Bank may also undertake other measures with the aim of safeguarding financial stability and mitigating systemic risks, such as recommendations and communication with credit institutions and the general public through publications and press releases.

Recommendation on actions in granting non-housing consumer loans

In early 2019, the CNB responded to risks associated with the acceleration of growth in general-purpose cash loans, granted under more lenient creditworthiness assessment standards in comparison with housing loans, with an increasingly longer maturity. In order to alleviate the accumulation of credit risk which could, if materialised amid deteriorated macroeconomic developments, cause a sharp increase in non-performing loans, the CNB recommended to all credit institutions that, in determining consumers' creditworthiness for all non-housing consumer loans with an original maturity of at least five years, they apply equal criteria as applied to housing loans (i.e. to take into account the minimum costs of living that may not be less than the amount prescribed by the Foreclosure Act governing a part of salary exempted from foreclosure).

Recommendation to mitigate interest rate and interest rate-induced credit risk in long-term consumer loans

In efforts to mitigate interest rate risk for consumers and interest rate-induced credit risk for banks, the CNB adopted a recommendation for credit institutions to mitigate that risk. It is recommended that credit institutions offer clients the possibility of changing loan financing conditions so that consumers having loans with variable interest rates could protect themselves against interest rate risk. Credit institutions having acted in accordance with the CNB's recommendation has enabled a significant increase in the share of loans with a fixed interest rate to maturity or in a certain initial repayment period, which has protected debtors from the effect of market interest rate increase at least in a medium-term.

 


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