Users of Swiss franc loans block Addiko Bank's Administration Building: Enough is enough!

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Around 50 users of loans with a Swiss franc currency clause have blocked the main branch of Addiko Bank in Sarajevo.

As Kemal Duraković, president of the association "Švicarac" (Swiss Franc), told Patria, they were unable to enter the part of the bank with teller windows to pay installments of 0.05 feninga, but they are currently in the lobby of the Addiko Bank Business Building.

- The police have not arrived yet. Some are planning to start a hunger strike here, because enough is enough – said Duraković.

In this way, they want to draw the attention of the public and the authorities to resolve their problem. They complain about evictions and property sales to settle disputed loans and demand that the authorities protect them. They expect the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to finally pass the Law on Loan Conversion, for which the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has given a negative opinion and which the bank considers unfounded and unnecessary.

Otherwise, the bank and the Association of Loan Users have different data regarding this process, as the bank claims that 10 percent of cases are still unresolved, while the Association claims that just over 10 percent have been resolved.

Otherwise, there are a number of rulings, albeit non-final, in which Hypo Bank, now Addiko Bank, is obliged to return overpaid money due to the difference in the Swiss franc, as well as the overpaid and increased difference in interest rates, all with interest from the date of filing the lawsuit.

In addition, Hypo Bank is obliged to pay court costs, which include legal fees and client-plaintiff payments for court fees on the lawsuit, as well as the client-plaintiff's payment for court economic-financial expertise.

And regardless of all this, the agony of users of these loans continues. It is necessary to resolve this issue legally as soon as possible, which, with the goodwill of the authorities, could have been achieved in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Members of the Commission for the Examination of the Legality of Loan Placements in Swiss Francs (CHF) sent the Draft Law on the Conversion of Loans with a Currency Clause in Swiss Francs into Convertible Marks to the parliamentary procedure on May 16.

The same draft passed unanimously in both houses of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the form of a draft law.

The end of the agony awaits around 6,000 citizens in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and according to the association's data, as many as 27 people have committed suicide due to such loans.