Huge amounts of coins brought by citizens to exchange levs for euros have blocked the work of bank branches in some places in the first days of the euro's introduction. This became clear from the words of Petya Dimitrova, Chairwoman of the Management Board of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria, in the program “120 minutes“ on bTV.
According to her, in one of the cases, a client showed up with an extremely large amount of coins – collected in three cans. Processing them took a lot of time and made it difficult to serve other clients. However, the banks did not refuse to exchange and the person was served. “There are no fees for exchanging coins, but we appeal for reason“, stressed Dimitrova.
She was categorical that during the first six months of the introduction of the euro, no fees are due for exchanging levs into euros - neither for banknotes nor for coins, regardless of whether the client has an account with the relevant bank. In cases where fees were charged by mistake, they have already been refunded.
The pressure on the banking system is unprecedented. In the first two working days alone, nearly 240,000 people were served in branches, and banks accepted over 30 million banknotes and coins with a total weight of about 150 tons. “These are volumes that have never been registered in the history of the banking system“, noted Dimitrova.
Due to the workload and for better organization, a prior request is required three working days in advance for amounts over 30,000 leva. When exchanging over 5,000 euros, a declaration of origin of the funds is required - a measure coordinated with the institutions and in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Dimitrova also commented on the signals of temporarily reduced withdrawal limits from ATMs, specifying that this was a short-term solution for smoother service. Currently, all banks are operating under normal conditions and have sufficient euro banknotes and euro cents.
In order to avoid new branch blockages, banks will operate every Saturday in January, with over 100 additional branches to be opened. The Association of Banks calls on citizens to use cashless payments, which significantly ease the process.
“The transition to the euro is a serious test for the system, but it works“, concluded Petya Dimitrova.