site.btaSofia Municipal Council Authorizes Mayor to Select New Servicing Bank

The Sofia Municipal Council on Monday unanimously authorized Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev to choose a new servicing bank for the municipal funds. 

After Municipal Bank AD terminated the contracts for banking services to the Sofia Municipality on July 29, a working group was established, which prepared selection criteria for choosing a new bank. The selection criteria include a valid banking license and a high credit rating, no supervisory measures imposed and no state aid received in the last three years, as well as at least three years of experience in servicing budget organizations and payment services through the electronic budget payment system (SEBRA).

Based on the criteria a negotiation procedure was initiated with the leading banks in the country. At the suggestion of the working group, official invitations to participate in the procedure were sent to the four largest banks in the country, with the deadline for submitting offers closing on Monday.

"Tomorrow we will have information about which of the four invited banks have submitted offers", said Boyko Dimitrov, Chair of the Continuing Change - Democratic Bulgaria Group in the Sofia Municipal Council. He expressed hope that a large and stable bank can be selected in an extremely short period of time and noted that within 7-10 days the public procurement commission could complete its work on selecting the bank.