Hungary’s Orban Makes World’s Best Trade on Swiss Franc Loans
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, often criticized for punishing banks, is being hailed as a hero for warding off financial disaster with his quest to rid the country of mortgages worth billions of Swiss francs.
Orban in November forced Hungarian banks to make financial arrangements to convert 3.3 trillion forint ($12 billion) in foreign-currency mortgages, overwhelmingly denominated in Swiss francs, into local currency. The move, to be completed this year, prevented a 700 billion-forint jump in household debt when the Swiss National Bank set the franc free yesterday, Hungary’s monetary authority said.