The Croatian Banking Association (HUB) and Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said on Friday that the High Commercial Court ruling concerning the nullity of the currency clause for Swiss franc-indexed loans does not apply to loans that have been converted into euro or kuna-denominated loans under an amended law of 2015.

The conversion, which was carried out solely at the expense of banks, ensured the equal status of CHF-loan holders with those who took euro-denominated loans, the HUB said in a statement.

The Commercial Court had on Wednesday ruled in favour of the suit filed by the consumers’ association on behalf of 100,000 citizens who had taken out loans pegged to the franc, with three quarters of them being housing loans. The latest ruling refers to loans taken between 2004 and the end of 2008.

Because of misinterpretations of the court ruling in the case of the Potrosac consumer protection association against eight banks over loans pegged to the Swiss franc, the HUB said that it was up to courts to assess the significance and legal reach of the High Commercial Court ruling given that not all legal avenues have been exhausted in this case.

RBA said that the High Commercial Court ruling established the nullity of the currency clause for CHF-denominated loans at a collective level, but that the nullity had been removed by conversion to the euro, a legal and valid currency.

The bank said that the ruling could not be applied to each consumer uniformly and that all the facts and circumstances would have to be established in each individual case. It added that it was considering all legal options at its disposal and would take all appropriate and available measures within the time frame defined by law, RBA said in a statement.

Leaders of the Franak association of former CHF-loan holders recommended to their members and all other people affected by CHF loans to initiate private lawsuits against banks. They said that according to their estimates banks could lose from 10 billion to 15 billion kuna (€1.35 billion to €2 billion), noting that a settlement with banks was possible.

Goran Aleksic, a prominent member of Franak and a member of Parliament, said that all debtors would be fully compensated, but first they would have to go to court.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.