The amending ordinance to Ordinance No. 23 on the Terms and Procedure for Payout of Insured Amount of Deposits with Banks with Revoked Licenses has been published today, 7 August 2009, in Darjaven vestnik, issue 63.

The amendments to BNB Ordinance No. 23 render compliance to the provisions on the procedure for repayment of insured deposit amounts with the amendments to the Law on Bank Deposit Guarantee (LBDG) in force as of 12 June 2009, as well as with other technical aspects related to repayment issues in LBDG.

Under the amendments in LBDG the repayment deadlines have been shortened in view of the new EU regulatory framework. The Bulgarian Deposit Insurance Fund (BDIF) shall start reimbursement of guaranteed deposit amounts no later than 20 working days from license revocation, in lieu of the previous 45 days. The deadline for announcement in no fewer than two major dailies of the initial day of repayment and the servicing bank is shortened to 7 working days at most, before the start of repayment.

Amendments to Ordinance No. 23 abolish the previously required issue of certificates as a requisite for obtaining reimbursement of guaranteed deposit amounts. The bank with revoked license provides BDIF and the servicing bank with data on guaranteed deposit amounts.

Thus, depositors may, from the initial announced day of repayment, receive their guaranteed deposit amounts in the servicing bank, where they shall submit the documents indicated in the ordinance.

The modified procedure aims at facilitating depositors who are no longer obliged to first obtain a certificate from the failed bank. Still, in order to protect depositors’ interest they may, upon request, to be provided with certificate of their guaranteed amount from the failed bank.

Amendments to Ordinance No. 23 are enforceable as of 11 August 2009, whereas the shortened deadlines for repayment of the guaranteed deposit amounts shall be in force as of 1 September 2009.

The Bulgarian Deposit Insurance Fund guarantees full repayment of the guaranteed amounts of a depositor in a bank, irrespective of their number and size, up to BGN 100,000. Guaranteed are deposits of physical persons and legal entities in national and foreign currencies.