The nine entities to which the old savings banks have been reduced have joined the agreement between the Government and the banks to facilitate the payment of the mortgage to individuals in distress.
Of all these entities, the largest by far is CaixaBank, the result of the merger with Bankia, which was actually the first to back the agreement. There is also Unicaja, merged with Liberbank and recently included in the Ibex.
The other old banks recently added to the agreement are Kutxabank, Cajasur Banco, Abanca, Unicaja Banco, Ibercaja Banco, Caixa Ontinyent and Colonya Pollença, according to the association that brings them together, Ceca.
The old savings banks have just confirmed their adherence to the council held by the Mint, with which the pact between the banks and the Government is guaranteed success. The entities of the Mint manage 46% of the mortgages in Spain.
The agreement to modify and extend the codes of good practice of 2012 allows to extend terms, enjoy deficiencies and freeze installments to nearly one million households if their variable mortgages reach a certain threshold with respect to their income as a result of increases in the Euribor .
The Government considers that the measure will make it possible to deal with the foreseeable increases in mortgages after the first ECB interest rate increases in eleven years, which have been repeated in these months until the reference rates remain at 2.5%. The intraday Euribor already exceeds 3%.
La Ceca highlights the collaboration of the banking sector with the Government to give support to clients who find it difficult to pay their mortgage loan installments.
The new aid regime, remember, will last for two years. After its approval in Congress through a royal decree-law, it will enter into force on January 1.
As the agreement is voluntary, banks must sign up individually. Santander, BBVA, Sabadell and Bankinter have already done so, so the measures will go ahead without disagreement between the entities.
