The Swiss saga enters a new phase. The storm surrounding the interest rates on euro loans that some banks charged in their conversions continues to blow. Some bankers did not recognize interest for bank clients, but calculated the conversion based on ‘regular’ borrowers without client status. Although practically all debtors were or became clients of the banks from which they took out loans.
Lalovac’s law has, intentionally or not, left room for at least two interpretations. Banks used the highest possible interest rate for conversion, while Governor Vujčić is trying to sweep the mess with interest rates under the rug. When pressed to publish the amounts of bank interest on loans, HNB responds that they have data on interest rate movements only since 2011. If they do not have them, then they have lost them. The governor should be reminded that HNB has been keeping records of interest rates on loans practically since his arrival at the institution. Thus, he can see that the lowest average interest rates were in July 2007 – 2.89 percent, and in August of this year they reached 5.08 percent. So, if there is an average, there are also the components of that average, which means that in some Excel file on some forgotten old computer (perhaps the one belonging to the former governor) in the basement of HNB, there are also data on loans in every currency (euro and Swiss franc, by months and by banks). Also, about how many of which loans were issued in which period, and with what interest rates. After all, banks were obliged to submit monthly reports on interest rates on loans and deposits to HNB throughout the entire ‘Swiss era’ according to the decision of Governor Rohatinski. So how is it that all data older than 2011 has been lost to Vujčić? And how is it that he does not mention that it was he who, by his decision of August 7, 2014, abolished the obligation for banks to submit monthly reports on interest rates? Clearly, HNB is ripe for a major cleanup.
