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At the Seimas BFK session on Thursday, it was discussed how commercial banks could contribute, so that the introduction of a strict quarantine for businesses in the country would facilitate the survival of this difficult period.
“Three weeks of strict quarantine could cost around $ 700 million. Loss of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”, Mykolas Majauskas, president of the Seimas BFK, confirmed at the meeting, who asked how banks would like to be remembered in the future during this period.
Photo by Lukas Balandis / 15min / Mykolas Majauskas
At the meeting, the president of the Lithuanian Banking Association, Eivilė Čipkutė, assured that commercial banks, taking into account the strict quarantine restrictions, are determined to contribute to the management of the pandemic and to individually solve the problems of residents and companies in trouble.
“All banks have been assured of their determination to return to the extension of the moratorium if the need arises. Each bank, if it notices the changing flows of residents or companies, can initiate this discussion in the association,” assured E.Čipkutė.
3 clients applied in December
This was also emphasized by the heads of the commercial banks, but they said that they do not yet feel the need to defer payment of business loans.
“In December, we received 3 applications and we are working with them. Now the figures are not the same as in early March, then 60 commercial clients submitted applications in a week. We are monitoring the situation,” said Dovilė Grigienė, president of the Swedbank directory in Lithuania.
Sigismund Gedvila / 15min photo / Dovilė Grigienė
All the directors of the main commercial banks present at the meeting stressed that in the spring, during the onset of the pandemic, banks changed loan repayment schedules without even waiting for a moratorium.
“If necessary, we are determined to return to the issue of the moratorium. Today, we do not see the need for a systematic standard solution by borrowers, we have to look for non-standard solutions, which is what we are looking for,” he agreed. Andrius Načajus, Chairman of the Board of Luminor.
True, he pointed out that today’s banks have two roles: not only to help clients facing temporary financial difficulties, but also to look ahead and lend money for economic growth after the pandemic. In his opinion, loans are now one of the biggest headaches.
“It’s not like during the first wave, when everyone was thinking about how many losses customers would suffer, whether they would survive or not. Now an even bigger headache, and where to put the money, how to lend it, because there is an excess of liquidity in the market; there are a lot of deposits, we keep -0.5 percent. At the European Central Bank, there will be no business, ”said A. Načajus.
At the end of April, financial and credit institutions belonging to the Lithuanian Banking Association signed a moratorium that simplified the deferral of payments to customers in difficulty. It lasted until the end of September.
The banks then pledged to allow all private clients to defer mortgage payments for up to one year and consumer and finance lease loans for up to six months. It was also agreed to defer loan payments to companies for up to 6 months.
About 10,000 people took advantage of the opportunity provided by the moratorium to temporarily postpone the payment of loans. the country’s population and the companies that made loans for 1,500 million. euros.
Most of them have been postponed under a moratorium initiated by the LBA and market participants in April and applied until the end of September.
Since Wednesday, with the tightening of the quarantine across the country, most of the country’s stores, beauty salons and individual workouts have had to be stopped by sports clubs.
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