The issue, which has been pending for eight months, was discussed today at a closed-door meeting of the House Finance Committee. The approval of the bills was a precondition for the disbursement of the first tranche of the Recovery and Resilience Fund.
Opposition parties disagree with giving loan management companies access to guarantors' data in the land registry and the Artemis system, while ELAM, DPA-Cooperation and the Ecologist-Citizens' Movement tabled a bill to this effect.
ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou[/B] expressed the view that the European Commission's response gives room for the Government to remove the guarantors from this bill and to accept the amendment tabled by the parties. ELAM, he said, will not accept any solution or proposal that does not protect guarantors against the predatory and authoritarian tendencies of banking institutions.
In a statement, DPA-Cooperation MP Alekos Tryfonidis referred to the party's amendment to protect guarantors from possible abuses and improper behaviour by credit facility management companies and said that "it seems that our persistence has helped". He said the government would consult with the European Commission and submit an improved text.
He reiterated the party's concerns and reservations about granting guarantors the right of access to the Artemis system and Land Registry data.
Our intervention, he said, is aimed at encouraging short and equitable restructurings, and in no way will we protect strategic defaulters.
He added that the behaviour of loan management companies is sometimes destructive to borrowers. The moment they quadruple a loan, he said, they buy it at 1/6 of its original price and then reduce the price of the property down to 1/3 of its original value.
The MP of the Ecologists' Movement - Citizens' Co-operation Stavros Papadouris said that it seems that after eight months of discussion the Ministry accepts in its entirety the amendment of the Ecologists' Movement, DIPA and ELAM to exempt guarantors from access to their data by the management companies.
He said, management companies have no ownership of a loan and are not allowed to have any access to the data of guarantors, related parties or collateral providers. He added that they would expect the MoF to go back to the European Commission with the agreed changes and see if this would resolve the issue and make the first tranche of the Recovery and Resilience Plan payment.
He also said that the reason they tabled the amendment was not to delay the Ministry, but because one in two citizens in Cyprus today is a guarantor and will be affected by this legislation. He added that there are arbitrations from the former Co-operative that became court decisions and they are being charged 9% and 12% and bad practices of banks, courts moving very slowly. He also said that the agreement to date between KEDIPES and Altamira talks about 4% commission in case of sale of mortgaged property and only 0.5% for loan restructuring.
They were informed today, he said and welcomed the fact that there will be a review of this agreement between KEDIPES and Altamira. The new agreement, he said, will see more incentive given to restructuring rather than the sale of the mortgaged property.
Source: CNA
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