The European Banking Authority published a final Decision setting out the formula to be used by creditors when calculating the benchmark rate under the Mortgage Credit Directive. The MCD requires creditors to provide consumers with certain pre-contractual personalized information, including calculated illustrations of the annual percentage rate of charge and of the maximum instalment amount based on the highest value of any external reference rate used in calculating the borrowing rate, or, where the creditor does not use an external reference rate, the highest value of a benchmark rate as specified by a national regulator or the EBA. The EBA has therefore developed a formula for creditors to use to calculate such a rate which uses the underlying rate of the European Central Bank for Eurozone countries, or the Member State's central bank rate for non-Eurozone countries. The Decision will come into effect once it is published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

View the Decision.