The ECB has the Cypriot Parliament waiting for its opinion on the draft law which will include banks in the law on usury.

Based on the draft law, bankers who exceed the reference rate with excessive interest rates and unfair terms will be subject to criminal prosecution.

For the second time in four months, the parliament has turned to the ECB regarding this issue.

The general director of the parliament Vasiliki Anastasiadou, sent a letter to the President of the ECB Mario Draghi on January 12, calling on the ECB to forward its opinion on the draft law that was submitted in the form of emergency in September 2014, as soon as possible.

The Cypriot parliament has previously turned to the ECB for its opinion but there was no response.

The parliament had even sent to the ECB, both the original bill and the revised proposal, as well as a report of the parliamentary finance and internal issues committees.

Recall that the bill was brought to parliament but discussion of the matter was postponed and it was decided to be discussed again at the relevant committees.

During discussion at the parliamentary committees the Central Bank and the legal service blocked the inclusion of banks in the law on usury.

The representative of the CB had invoked a provision of the memorandum and the legal service argued that the proposal is in contrast to an article of the Constitution.

On its side, the Association of Banks referred to the European acquis.

The representative of the CB had mentioned that the reference rate calculated quarterly by CB is a maximum interest rate on loan operations and that those companies which are not banks cannot overcome it.