Competition Council conducts surprise control into several banks

Competition Council inspectors have conducted a surprise control into the activity of several banks, as part of an investigation into the method of establishing the ROBOR index, sources close to the situation told AGERPRES.

In August, the governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu, stated that the banks crossed the line with the ROBOR index and went up much more than the monetary policy rate, told Agerpres.

The 3-month ROBOR index, based on which the cost of consumer loans in RON with variable interest is calculated, reached 8.21pct per year on October 26, according to data published by the National Bank of Romania (BNR). At the beginning of this year, the 3-month ROBOR index was 3.02pct per annum.