The general lawyer of the EU Court of Justice was about yesterday to unleash a major earthquake in the financial sector. Upon making public its non-binding opinion on mortgages linked to the Mortgage Loan Reference Index (IRPH), bank quotes suffered violent oscillations that caused certain entities to fall even more than 6%. But after the negative initial reaction, the investors recovered their calm and with it important recoveries were registered. Stock market anxiety has a more than intelligible motive. The lawyer Maciej Szpunar, contradicting a decision of the Supreme Court, believes that mortgages linked to IRPH should be subject to judicial protection and an exhaustive control of transparency , since it is a product of great "complexity for an average consumer". If the Luxembourg Court endorsed its decision, as is the case four times out of five, it would open the door for judges to annul said mortgages if they consider them opaque and force banks to compensate clients: the initial calculations of the bill is around 44,000 million in the worst case scenario.

Once again, as was the case with the ground clauses or with the conditions of the anticipated maturity of mortgages, Europe gives a severe touch of attention to the national Justice, puts the finger on the financial sector sore - pointing out the lack of progress in consumer protection matter- and ends with one of the pretexts to which they were held in some cases: that the IRPH index is a legal and official type (it is endorsed by the Bank of Spain) does not guarantee that it meets the requirements of requirement of transparency. An objective that can only be achieved when the product is sold to the customer, with relevant, understandable explanations and offering the rest of the contracting possibilities.

If the CJEU adopted the same position, a certain chaos could ensue. Litigation will skyrocket. Since each case is unique, it will have to be resolved independently in courts already exceeded. The different sentences could cause a feeling of insecurity and legal helplessness among those affected . Nor can it be overlooked that, again, it is a court of first instance that raises a question of such caliber to the EU, a task that should correspond to the Supreme Court.

What is undeniable is that we are facing another shadow on the already threatening horizon that is presented to the bank. With a weak eurozone and the pressure it supports for interest rates at historic lows, its ability to generate profitability is at the expense of the package of measures that Mario Draghi finally presents tomorrow as a farewell to the European Central Bank. Undoubtedly, Europe has again given the sector a strong blow.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Editorial
  • Supreme Court
  • Europe
  • Mario Draghi
  • Bank of Spain
  • European Central Bank
  • Banking
  • Mortgages

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