Slovenian banks have been hit by the increase of the Swiss franc against the euro.

On Wednesday, the National Assembly of Slovenia passed the law regulating the issuance of loans in Swiss francs. The reason for the changes in the legislation was the growth of the franc against the euro, which led to a significant increase in borrowers' payments, especially mortgages. According to the decision of the legislators, banks must convert contracts in euro and pay compensation to borrowers due to the growth of the exchange rate. The government and banks opposed the law and said they would file a petition to review the law for constitutionality with a proposal to suspend it. The subsidiary of the Russian “Sberbank” is among the affected banks.

According to Egor Noskov, managing partner of the Duvernoix Legal law firm, Slovenian commercial banks whose interests were affected by the adopted law are unlikely to be able to prove its unconstitutionality. He says that obtaining loans in the currency of other states obviously does not apply to traditional constitutional rights. "If, for example, the Slovenian Parliament had passed a law prohibiting citizens of the country from taking loans at all, or on the contrary, the right was granted not to repay the loans received, then such a bill could indeed be considered unconstitutional."

"The law designed to protect citizens from making ill-considered financial decisions due to the fact that the incomes of these citizens are received in one currency, and the loan servicing in another – the rate of which can change significantly in a negative way, probably still falls within the competence of the parliament," Egor Noskov told NEWS.ru.