He also questioned the consideration of debt restructuring and the merger of the BHU with Banco República in the same initiative.
The Association of Bank Employees of Uruguay (AEBU) rejected the project of the ruling party that pretends to be a response for the debtors in Resettable Units (UR) of the Mortgage Bank (BHU) for being “unfair and inequitable”, while it does not consider each case in particular.
The president of the Official Financial Sector Council of AEBU, Maria Eugenia Estouphe said at a press conference —after the appearance for almost an hour in front of the Housing and Territorial Planning Commission of the Upper House that is studying the project presented by the nationalist senators Sergio Botana and Carlos Camyand the red German Coutinho— that “calls attention” the inclusion of both the issue of debtors in UR and “the merger of the BHU with the Republic Bank (BROU) ” in the same proposal when “they are two separate issues”.
According to Estoup, the restructuring of the debts in UR —an issue long claimed by the people affected— “does not necessarily imply a merger” between the banksor the absorption of the BHU by the BROU, because the agency “has the back to support the restructuring of the debt that this bill implies”, as the president of the Mortgage Company herself maintained, Casilda Echeverria; which would imply a resignation of, approximately, 330 million dollars.
In any case, the AEBU representative considered that it should not be the BHU that should assume the restructuring, as it is “a political definition”. In this sense, the economic effort “should come out of General Income”.
Debts, debtors and an unfair project
Regarding the strict issue of the debt restructuring in UR —and no longer the merger of the banks—, Estoup questioned that the officialism’s proposal is based solely on the terms of the loans without considering “the specificity of each credit and the conditions of each debtor”. He pointed out that “it is not established what happens with the behavior of the debtor during the entire term of the credit”, and neither “is it studied whether it is the same debtor from the beginning to the end”. In short, “there are a number of aspects that make [el proyecto] be unfair and inequitable to the internal of the debtors themselves“, he claimed.
For AEBU, it should be noted that both the BHU and the National Housing Agency (ANV) have already had debt restructuring processes, but “on a case-by-case basis” and analyzing “the appraised value” of the property and “the debtor’s ability to pay”. “We understand that we have to go that way again”, affirmed Estoup; and he pointed out that in this sense, the problem claimed could be resolved “even without legislating.”
Source: Ambito
