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EU PolicyWatch

Database of national-level policy measures

Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.

Factsheet for measure HR-2020-27/922 – Updated – measures in Croatia

Extension of moratorium or deferral payment on loans with Sberbank d.d.

Moratorij na kredite kod Sberbank d.d.

Country Croatia , applies nationwide
Time period Temporary, 01 July 2020 – 01 October 2020
Context COVID-19
Type Company practices
Category Measures to prevent social hardship
– Preventing over-indebtedness
Author Predrag Bejakovic (IJF) and Eurofound
Measure added 04 July 2020 (updated 18 November 2021)

Background information

Due to the adverse consequences of coronavirus crisis, many citizens found themselves in the dire situation and due to unemployment or decrease in salaries are not able to duly repay bank loans. Therefore, some financial institutions and banks provided measures for deferral repayment. Sperbank has provided an extension of the moratorium for a period of three to six months. The bank is member of  Sberbank Europe Group, which today is present in a total of eight markets in the CEE region: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo and Banja Luka), Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia and Germany.

Content of measure

For all clients who duly repay their loans and found themselves in financial difficulties caused by COVID and have not yet used the moratorium in the Bank, Sperbank has provided a deferral of payment, or a moratorium on loan repayment. The requests for a moratorium on loan repayment should be submitted between 1st July and 31st October 2020. The deferral of annuity payment is approved for a period of 3 to 6 months depending on the reason for requesting the moratorium, starting from the due date of outstanding annuity.

The decision on approving the moratorium is made by the Bank on the basis of submitted documentation. During the moratorium, a client is not required to pay either principal or interest on the loan. Interest on a loan will be calculated but not immediately charged. Upon expiration of the moratorium, the Bank will allocate interest that has not been collected, but is calculated during the moratorium, to the remaining annuities, until the end of loan repayment. This means that the amount of the existing annuity per loan will be increased for the amount of interest that will be calculated during the moratorium. The loan repayment deadline is extended by as many months as the moratorium has been approved, in order to further facilitate client’s future monthly financial obligation Regarding the COVID-19, the reasons for deferral repayment can be job loss and salary reduction.

Updates

The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.

07 October 2021

In Sberbank, the process for deferral payment was simple according to the demand for deferral payment. However, there have been no legal regulations of the Government of the Republic of Croatia that would oblige banks to implement measures. Furthermore, the Croatian National Bank did not adjust the regulatory framework in order to maintain the liquidity of the economy and citizens in the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. This caused various approaches of different banks to the deferral process and required conditions. From the Government’s suggestion, it was not comprehensible whether the moratorium applied to all bank customers without exception or only to those which demanded the moratorium. Finally, it was not explained what was included in moratorium: principal, interest or both. There are no public data on the number of persons which demanded deferral payments and no information of the allowed moratorium cases.

Use of measure

It is impossible to estimate the number of potential users of deferral payment, but it is highly likely that the measure will trigger a considerable interest among Bank's clients.

Contents

  • Other topics

Target groups

Workers Businesses Citizens
Does not apply to workers Does not apply to businesses Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors Funding
Company / Companies
No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

Trade unions Employers' organisations
Role No involvement as case not in social partner domain No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form Not applicable Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

  • No involvement
  • Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

Due to the nature of the measures social partners were not included but they always advocate the measures which help financial problems of citizens.

Views and reactions

Social partners always support measures that help financial problems of citizens but in this concrete case they did not have any particular reaction.

Sources

  • 30 March 2020: Zahtjev za odgodom plaćanja u Sberbank (Demand for Deferral Payment in Sberbank)
  • 29 June 2020: Ugovaranje moratorija za kredite
  • 01 July 2020: Sperbank extention for existing moratorium for loans (www.sberbank.hr)

Citation

Eurofound (2020), Extension of moratorium or deferral payment on loans with Sberbank d.d., measure HR-2020-27/922 (measures in Croatia), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/HR-2020-27_922.html

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Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process.