The president of the Central Bank, Miguel Ángel Pescesaid that any solution to the problem of UVA mortgage credit takers “It must be careful not to affect the assets of public entities.”
Pesce highlighted that of the 105 thousand UVA mortgage loans, about 97,000 correspond to single family homes and the majority were granted by public banks.
“47 percent were granted by Banco Nación, 13 by Banco Provincia and 9 percent by Banco Ciudad.“, specified the official, who remarked that the delay is “very low”.
He said that “to perfect this system we should find a permanent mechanism to save these exceptional and critical situations when the real salary falls abruptly and the parity processes cannot compensate with the speed that families need to pay a credit installment that is adjusted for inflation”.
“The state should intervene there.and we should find a way that would be an insurance or a fund where there could be assistance both from the debtor himself who contributed to this fund and from the State to have this tool permanently,” he added.
Pesce expressed these concepts when expounding on bills that seek to provide a solution to the problem faced by UVA mortgage loan holders, due to the strong increase in those installments that are adjusted according to inflation.
The system began to be implemented during the administration of Mauricio Macri and is the subject of discussion by the holders of the same who now face difficulties in paying the respective installments.
When you open the meeting, the president of the Finance Commission of the Lower House, Alicia Apariciopointed out that “we convene this joint information, in compliance with the parliamentary agreement, to deal with and address the problem generated by UVA credits. We hope to be able to arrive at a consensus opinion at the next meeting.”
The head of the BCRA said that “we have no record of foreclosures” and pointed out that “when the loans were granted, they affected 27.5 percent of income and today they reach 33 percent of salaries, and at peak times when wages fell, they affected 35 percent of salaries.”
Pesce added that the “41% of credit balances that they have delivered to the families that have public entities corresponds to UVA mortgage loans. The solution we find to the problem must be careful not to affect the assets of public entities”.
“85 percent belongs to debtors in the two highest income deciles of the income scale and 80 percent corresponds to registered salaries,” added the head of the Central, to later specify that the arrears “is 1.4 percent.”
“There were previous cases where defaults skyrocketed in the 1980s when a failed solution was sought,” the official warned.
For its part, the president of Banco Nación, Silvina Batakissaid that the UVA credit system “planned a drop in inflation, which did not happen, and we also understand that there are several proposals presented in this Congress to provide some kind of solution and we are willing to listen to them.”
To its turn, the manager of Economic Studies of Bapro, Mariano Beltrani He said that “the delinquency in the case of Banco Provincia is quite low: the irregularity is close to 2.7% with data to July and this delinquency has remained relatively stable since the lifting of the Central Bank’s COVID regulations.”
While, the director of Banco Ciudad, Gastón Rossisaid that “for the 200 loans that are in irregular condition, Banco Ciudad has an individual approach, that is, we offer refinancing by extending the term and lowering the interest rate.”
From the private sector, the president of the Association of Banks of Argentina, Claudio Cesariowarned that “any equity loss of the banks affects the solvency and liquidity of the financial system, and 70% or more of the credits were disbursed by public banks, therefore it is your responsibility to watch over this equity.”
On the senators side, the author of one of the existing projects on the subject, the radical Julio Cobos He said that “here we want to find a solution for the past that is useful for the future and how we return to and coexist with 100 percent inflation and those who today owe 10 million, next year it will be 20 million” and if we talk about the equity issue “everyone We must take care of them” but we have to “do something because the contractual relationship was broken”.
For its part, the deputy of the FDT, Victoria Tolosa Pazmaintained that the creation of a Compensation Fund “could be a good measure that does not harm the public bank that has the largest amount of credits” and said that the profile of the debtors should be known since “here it was said that they belong to the highest income group” for which “we must know how many workers had registered income and today do not, how many are heads of household and how many are retired and pensioned”.
