Hungary top court proposes legal procedure on FX loans

MBH Jelzalogbank Nyrt

25/11/2013 07:44

BUDAPEST, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Hungary's top court, the Kuria, on Monday proposed to carry out a legal uniformity procedure to assess various aspects of foreign currency loans, including to establish whether such contracts are valid, it said in a statement on Monday. After a broad introduction discussing how the hundreds of thousands of such contracts and the pending legal challenges have become a "social problem," the Kuria's motion defines the scope of the procedure to "foreign currency based consumer loans and leasing contracts". It was not clear from the statement whether the motion includes all foreign currency mortgages as well. A spokeswoman at the Kuria was not immediately available to comment. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has recently put pressure on the top court to deliver a broad ruling on foreign currency loans, which were popular in Hungary before the global crisis but turned sour as the forint weakened, pushing many into default. (Reporting by Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs) ((gergely.szakacs@thomsonreuters.com)(+36 1 327 4748)(Reuters Messaging: gergely.szakacs.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: HUNGARY FXLOANS/