The banks will be ready for the euro on 1 January 2025

As the Chairperson of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria (ABB), I am fully committed to the process of joining the Eurozone, which is a historic moment for our country. We have been working for the last 2 years to create the processes so that we will have the banks fully ready on 1 January 2025.

The adoption of the euro will become an engine for accelerating reforms, increasing welfare and reaching European standards of living. This will bring a number of benefits for citizens and companies, such as reduction of transaction costs, improvement of the investment environment and activation of local and foreign investments with the resulting positive effect on employment.

The members of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria are planning to conduct an explanatory campaign among the citizens, for which we also rely on cooperation from the state institutions, so that we can explain all the benefits of adopting the euro.

People should be reassured that, from the date of introduction of the euro, all their accounts and loans will be automatically converted into euros at the official rate, without the need for them to do anything. There will be no need to replace their debit and credit cards. The draft law on the introduction of the euro ensures that the terms of loans will not be changed. Sufficient security measures have been taken so that citizens can have peace of mind about their savings.

We recommend that before the introduction of the euro, everyone should deposit their available BGN into their bank account. Levs in cash will be used in parallel with the euro only in the first month after the date of introduction. During the first 6 months, the exchange of levs into euros will be carried out free of charge by the banks. For the convenience of customers, detailed information will also be available on the websites of each bank, as well as on a special section of the ABB website.