„The most important thing is people to know what to expect, stay calm and be tolerant to the situation. Nothing will be lost, their money is in a safe place and they will be able to continue living their lives as they were doing it before the change .“, was the leading message of Svetla Georgieva, Chief Risk Officer of UBB, before the participants in the 8-th financial forum entitled „The Future of Money“, and organized by the Manager magazine.

The event gathered the opinions of leading experts in the field of banking and finance, who discussed important topics, linked to the euro adoption, development of the banking system and of this country’s economy. The special conversation of Svetla Georgieva with Ivan Nonchev, Editor-in-Chief of Manager News, was dedicated to the risks, triggered by the adoption of the new currency and the things people and businesses should know and do to enable the seamless and flawless run of the process.

The CRO of UBB assured that presently the entire banking industry was conducting series of tests, to make sure that everything would run smoothly in technical terms. Her advice to individuals and to businesses was to more carefully plan their needs for euro banknotes and coins during the initial period after the adoption of the new currency and to obtain available cash, which to ensure their normal operation during the first days. No queues are needed, as every crowding might result in technical problems and respectively in negative reactions, which nobody needs.

„The financial industry is strongly dependent on digital services. On the occasion of adopting the euro there may be increase in the intensity of cyber-attacks and fraud attempts targeting people, who are still unaware that no change of accounts is needed, nor of IBANs, nor of contracts, and that all this will happen automatically.“, said Svetla Georgieva in line with the threat for frauds, linked to the euro adoption process. „All banks have pages with advice for cybersecurity and with useful information about the euro adoption. Upon every case of worry or unclarity about any issue, pertaining to their money it is important that individuals should refer to their own bank, or at least check in the latter website and obtain information from there. This is the easiest way to protect themselves and to stay safe from ill-founded attacks.“, she added.

Svetla Georgieva shared that the bank aims at being as flexible, fast, adaptive and transparent as possible in line with the different risk types, regardless of their source or intensity. This also enables it to react in a fast and adequate manner, in order to protect what is the most important for it – the trust of its customers.

UBB was General Sponsor of the 8-th banking and finance forum entitled “The Future of Money”, held on 23 October in Inter Expo Centre in Sofia city. Its programme involved Teodor Marinov, Chief Financial Officer of UBB and Svetla Georgieva, Chief Risk Officer of UBB, who shared their opinions on the topics discussed.