A percentage included in the 27-page royal decree-law published today in the BOE on the new aid to alleviate the rise in Euribor on mortgages has ended the reluctance of the banks and has encouraged them to unanimously support the agreement reached on Monday with the Government.
On Monday night, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced an agreement with banks to help those with mortgages. He recognized that there were pending fringes, but he would still approve it in the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. Yesterday morning, various entities such as Santander, BBVA or Sabadell were receptive, but did not dare to give their explicit support to the plan on the grounds that there were technical aspects to be resolved. Today, however, the bank employers' association AEB announced the support of all the banks for the measures.
What happened between Tuesday morning and early Wednesday morning? The BOE published today incorporates a small nuance that the banks were demanding and that, a few hours earlier, did not appear in the draft royal decree-laws. It is only a percentage, but it prevents banks from having to make million-dollar provisions.
Point 8 of article 15 of the royal decree law includes the phrase that reassures banks. "The interest rate applicable during the grace period will be such that it implies a reduction of 0.5 percent of the net present value of the loan in accordance with current regulations."
As the new support measures for vulnerable consumers and the middle classes were proposed, the value of the mortgage loan for banks could be reduced by more than 1%.
This 1% is the threshold from which the regulations require provisioning of 100% of the loan. For example, if changes are applied to a loan of 100,000 euros that reduce the bank's interest by more than 1,000 euros, the bank must provision the entire principal amount.
At the same time, the credit would go to a doubtful category, that is, to 'stage 3', which could also have consequences for the consumer, since it would make it difficult for them to sign new loans in the future.
"It was negotiated at the last minute how to do so that in no case would there be a depreciation of more than 1%," the sources say.
This nuance is very important and caused the tone of the sector to change radically today compared to the norm, from which only the interest of CaixaBank had been obtained up to that moment.
The president of the employers' association AEB, Alejandra Kindelán, announced this morning the willingness of the banks to join and described the agreement as "very good news". "It is a very important agreement for the sector, which shows its commitment to people," she added.
The governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, also gave the go-ahead to the measures. They suppose "a balance in alleviating the most affected households, compatible at the same time with not generating excessive pressure on the bank balance," he pointed out.
