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The financial difficulties experienced by many real estate and industrial firms have become an opportunity for advantageous acquisitions this year. Consultants and private bankers agree that the buyers are not coming just from the ranks of the richest people, but also include Czechs with property in the order of millions of crowns. Offered for sale are many developer projects in different stages of construction, said Dalibor Hlaváč, head of financial advisory at Deloitte. “Among the buyers are mainly rich individuals and financial groups,” he said. Typical for these sales is financial pressure exerted by the seller, said Hlaváč. “Speed eliminates a number of potential buyers and means an opportunity for predators that can acquire a project with a certain discountContinue Reading

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The Czech Republic could still adopt the euro in 2013, said former Czech National Bank vice-governor and current head of consultants at Deloitte, Luděk Niedermayer. However, the single European currency will not be introduced unless some entity fully supports the objective, he added. The driving force behind Slovakia’s eurozone entry was the National Bank of Slovakia, while the ČNB cannot be relied on, Niedermayer said. “It is rather a political decision, but I think that a certain part of the ČNB is not neutral at the moment,” he said. Apart from governor Zdeněk Tůma, there are now “Klaus’s people” on the governing board who are rather sceptical about the single currency, he added. The crown, and in particular its strongContinue Reading

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The financial crisis has brought a new phenomenon to the banking sector: debt consolidation loans. Banks report a growing demand for the product, which allows the borrower to combine a number of banking and nonbanking loans. “People are more careful and seek ways to lower their monthly debt payments,” said Monika Kubovcová, in charge of GE Money Bank’s retail loans department. Three years ago, GE became the first Czech bank to offer debt consolidation loans. Now the bank registers consolidation loans worth CZK 17 billion. “The year-on-year demand has grown about 15%,” Kubovcová told E15. These loans make almost half of the total amount of consumer loans granted by the bank. Raiffeisenbank also sees demand for debt consolidation loans growingContinue Reading

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Banks are losing faith that clients will be able to pay off mortgages and are trying to get rid of those loans as quickly as possible – even in cases when this means losing quite a lot of money. “While up until now banks have been selling mortgages individually, now they are often being sold in bulk,” said Martin Horák, head of the collection agency Credit Management. In an online auction by the company Clanroy, there was a package of 100 mortgage loans from Hypoteční banka. “Mortgage loans were always sold in online auctions. There is nothing new here,” bank director Jan Sadil told E15. Representatives of other agencies confirm that banks and building societies are unloading mortgages. “We expectContinue Reading

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A planned law against usury would affect not only loan offices, but also banks. If a proposal to categorise any loan with an annual interest rate of more than 20% as usury passes, it could affect even credit cards and some consumer loans. That is why banks would like to change the proposals put forward by the ČSSD and the KDU-ČSL. “Every fixed maximum rate set by a law poses a risk that it will make loans less accessible to some high risk clients,” said Jan Matousek, deputy executive director of the Czech Banking Association. Banks admit that aside from credit cards, it is often loans used by people from low-income groups that have interest rates of 20% or higherContinue Reading

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Shop owners and service providers might have easier access to loans. The Industry Ministry is considering extending the guarantees’ programme for operational loans provided by the Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank (ČMZRB) to retail and services. Currently, only entrepreneurs from construction and industry sectors can apply for loans. “We are analysing the conditions under which we could extend the programme,” said Tomáš Bartovský, the ministry’s spokesman. ČMZRB expert Josef Vaník told E15 that his institution handed over documents and their standpoint concerning the matter to the ministry. “We are in favour of this move, of course, we have recorded a great demand for guarantees from these sectors in particular,” he said and added that they have not yet received theContinue Reading