Savings cooperatives lent HUF 72.4 billion to the new clients by the end of February, Varga said. Calculating with the effect of early repayment of FX mortgages at the savings cooperatives, retail lending stock climbed HUF 65 billion, he added.


Under the scheme, which ran from the end of September, 2011, until the end of February, borrowers could repay their FX mortgages, in full, at discounted exchange rates.


Varga said savings cooperative were expected to suffer a loss of more than HUF 2 billion on the early repayment scheme.


Data from financial market regulator PSzÁF show savings cooperatives lent HUF 59.4 billion to clients to participate in the early repayment scheme by the end of January. The data show savings cooperative borrowers repaid HUF 4.4 billion of FX mortgages at discounted rates. The loans were worth HUF 6.4 billion at market rates.


Savings cooperatives earlier decided to use the early FX mortgage repayment scheme to broaden their client base, which explains the big difference between the loans disbursed to participate in the scheme and the loans repaid by existing savings cooperative clients.