The exchange of cash was pointed out as the biggest challenge, linked to the euro adoption in Bulgaria by Teodor Marinov, Chief Financial Officer at UBB. This happened during the first discussion panel, entitled - „Banks and the Eurozone – the final sprint“ of The Future of Money financial forum, organized by Manager magazine.

The Chief Financial Officer of UBB, jointly with Lyubomir Datsov, Member of Bulgaria’ Fiscal Council and Assoc. Prof. Krassen Stanchev, PhD, economist and Chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of Market Economics, shared before the event attendees their positions, linked to the challenges upon the euro adoption, what was happening in banks "behind the counter" and what their customers should expect, what were the lessons, learnt from other countries in Central and Eastern Europe and others.

Teodor Marinov’s stance was that should the bigger part of cash funds be deposited prior to the official euro adoption date to enable their automatic conversion, the better it would be for all of us. Such was also the example of all countries that had adopted the euro before Bulgaria. That opinion was also shared by the other participants in the forum.

Teodor Marinov made a special emphasis that one of the important changes happening not so visibly, however requiring substantial resources on the part of banks in terms of time and finance, was technical systems. He described banks as being record-breakers in terms of number of systems and reminded that each of those systems needed setting, testing and checking separately, as to whether in their totality they produced the required result that would be operating successfully with the new currency as of 01.01.2025.

„The euro adoption in Bulgaria is not a process somebody can gain from. There is a need for coordinated work in the banking sector, good alignment, a common approach and an ambition to think not only of our customers, but also of all individuals, who will be using our services in line with the adoption of the new currency.“, he shared.

The participants in the panel voiced opinions about the development of the global economy and the differences between the European countries from Northern and Southern Europe with regard to the economic cycle, the need of political stability in the country, both with regard to the euro adoption process, and also with regard to the management of the economy and the implementation of effective policies in the field of human resources, labour market, attraction of foreign investments, fiscal policy and others.

 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.