Raiffeisen Bank may be the first local lender to take legal action against the Romanian state on the giving-in-payment law.

This week the bank will publicly warn the state that the law is endangering the bank’s investments, reports local Economica.net.

Romania has concluded several bilateral agreements that ensure the protection of foreign investments. Raiffeisen Bank will complain that the state is ignoring these agreements by violating property rights.

The giving-in-payment law allows people to give in their mortgaged houses to the banks if they can’t afford repaying their mortgage loans. The state would get a deadline for amending the law, under the threat of international trials with the parent groups of local lenders. The general managers of four Romanian banks with foreign capital warned President Klaus Iohannis that they may sue the state.

editor@romania-insider.com