Hungary Backs Loan Refunds as Banks Face Mounting Losses
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Hungarian lawmakers approved a law forcing banks to refund borrowers on charges deemed unfair on as much as $28 billion in outstanding loans.
Parliament, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s coalition has a two-thirds majority, approved the law by a vote of 184 to 1 with 2 abstentions. The legislation voids exchange-rate margins used on foreign-currency loans and declares unfair unilateral changes to consumer credit going back as far as 2004, except where banks prove otherwise.