TIRANA, April 5 /ATA/ “The law on the Payment Account with Basic Features benefits not only pensioners and the needy, but also students or all foreigners who have been granted refugee status.”
This is what the director of the Supervision Department at the Bank of Albania, Deniz Deralla, said in a media briefing. He revealed other details from the law on the Payment Account with Basic Features, which came into force on April 1 of this year, as a measure to reduce the use of cash.
“This law obliges banks to open a bank account at no cost, for those categories that do not have an account. The law is aligned with EU legislation. We oblige banks to open accounts at zero cost and zero maintenance cost, for those categories that do not have an account to date. These accounts will serve for utility payments”, he said.
Deralla announced that, “the number of pensioners or those who receive social assistance is about 730 thousand, of whom only 70 thousand receive the pension or state benefit in the bank, while 660 thousand consumers do not have this opportunity. This law helps them to get the state benefit or pension through the bank, it doesn’t force them, it gives them this opportunity. This law guarantees that they will not have costs at the bank. Even these pensioners who receive their pension in the bank will be able to close these normal account that incurs costs, and open the basic one for free.”
/r.e/sm/
