Bank fees for converting the lev into the new currency are not required for the next 6 months, according to the Law on the Introduction of the Euro. This was stated in “Face to Face“ on bTV by the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria - Tsvetanka Mincheva. According to her, inquiries have been received regarding misunderstandings where fees were requested, and they will be checked.
“The banking system does not charge fees, this is how the law is made. This is the practice of the thousands of clients we have been serving in recent days“, she said and added that there are no limits for exchanging levs into euros: “At some branches, it is necessary to make a request for large amounts, for example over 30 thousand levs. This is normal banking practice, in order to anticipate available money in the respective branch“.
Mincheva called on citizens to be tolerant of the process and not to rush to exchange their money in the first working days. According to her, if people come across a case that is illegal, they can signal the management of the respective bank, as well as ABB.
“From the announcement of the decision to enter the eurozone until the end of the year – about 37% of the available cash in circulation was withdrawn from circulation, this is over 11 billion levs, with a third of it being deposited in December. On January 5 alone, over 1 million POS transactions for over 34 million euros were processed, and over 1,500 ATM transactions for 37 million euros. Imagine the logistics behind this,” explained Mincheva.
She admitted that they receive signals about empty ATMs, but this is quite normal and happens even under normal conditions. Mincheva recalled that when converting more than 5,000 euros, a declaration of origin of the funds is filled out.