The Home Protection Monitoring Committee held its first session on Friday, Prime Ministerial Spokesman Péter Szijjártó announced on Friday.

The committee was established earlier this month to oversee implementation of the government’s assistance program to help Hungarians repay foreign-currency-denominated mortgages by freezing CHF, EUR and JPY exchange rates for repayment purposes for three years. The part of debt thus resulting from the difference between the frozen and the actual exchange rates will be settled after the expiry of the program.

Szijjártó said that the committee, composed of National Bank of Hungary Vice Governor Júlia Király, Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority Vice President Laszlo Balogh and National Economy Ministry State Secretary András Kármán, will meet twice a month.

Szijjártó said that the committee intends to pay particular attention to regulatory issues pertaining to the transparency of formulating interest rates on mortgages, competition between banks and consumer protection. If the committee sees actions by banks harming debtors, it may propose immediate measures to the government, the spokesman added.