31.08.2023
FREE PAYMENT ACCOUNT FOR CITIZENS FROM 1.09
From September 1, individuals will be able to open a payment account for basic operations, which will be serviced free of charge, when funds from salaries, pensions, benefits and allowances for social insurance and social assistance, scholarships for schoolchildren, students are received and stored on it and PhD students. This was announced by the Ministry of Finance in connection with the possibility for citizens to receive their wages under the so-called "payment account for basic operations".
The department reminds that this possibility is ensured by changes in the Law on Payment Services and Payment Systems, voted with the adoption of the Law on the State Budget for 2023.
A condition for the use of a payment account for basic operations is that citizens do not have another payment account opened in a bank through which they can use these services. Each citizen will be entitled to only one payment account for basic operations. It can be used to perform services such as depositing funds into the account, withdrawing cash from a counter or ATM, as well as other payment operations on the territory of the country in BGN. Citizens will be able to withdraw the specified funds from the account for basic operations free of charge only at ATMs of the servicing bank, the Ministry of Finance explains.
From there, they recall that with the adoption by the parliament of the state budget for 2023, amendments were made to the Labor Code and the Law on Limitation of Cash Payments. They introduced the obligation for all employers with 100 or more employees to pay their wages only by transfer or deposit to a payment account in a bank in the country specified by the worker or employee. Excluded from this requirement are people who work under an employment contract for short-term seasonal agricultural work.
The Ministry of Finance also announced that changes to the Law on Payment Services and Payment Systems have been prepared, which are currently open for public discussion. They will specify the application of this new part of the law, "given the achievement of the set goals". According to the European directive on payment accounts, the payment account for basic operations aims to provide easier and more barrier-free access to banking services for more vulnerable consumers, the announcement notes.
These legal amendments aim to contribute to brightening the economy, and this creates prerequisites for better economic growth, better quality of work and a better standard of living, argues the Ministry of Finance.
