site.btaOver 100 On-duty Bank Branches across Bulgaria Exchange Leva to Euro on Saturdays

More than 100 on-duty bank branches have been opened, operating on Saturdays to exchange leva into euros, Association of Banks in Bulgaria (ABB) Secretary General James Jolovski announced at a press conference of the Euro Coordination Centre in Bulgaria, held at the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. The initiative for exchanging leva into euros on Saturdays was launched by the Bulgarian National Bank and has been in place since December 2025, Jolovski said. He added that a full list of bank branches operating on Saturdays can be found on the ABB website, as well as on the websites of the individual banks.

Jolovski said that by January 12, ABB had received a total of 32 reports from citizens and the media regarding problems related to the exchange of leva into euros. Against the backdrop of hundreds of thousands of customers served by banks — around 120,000 people per day — these are isolated cases and a minimal deviation from established practice, and the problems have already been rectified, the Secretary General said.

In cases of refusal to exchange larger amounts, Jolovski said that the approach is unified and coordinated. All customers are treated in the same way as non-customers. For amounts exceeding BGN 30,000, a prior request is required, but this does not mean that there is a limit, Jolovski said, assuring that banks cannot refuse to exchange leva into euros.

Jolovski stressed that banks do not charge fees for the exchange of banknotes or coins. Simplified identification procedures apply to everyone. If there are customers who have been charged a fee, they can notify the bank where this occurred — on site at the branch, via the call centre or by email — and the report will certainly be addressed, Jolovski said.