Moldovan leu accepted at currency exchange operations, banking transactions in Romania

Chisinau, 25 September /MOLDPRES/ - The Moldovan leu will be accepted, for the first time ever, for currency exchange operations and banking transactions in Romania, the National Bank of Moldova (BNM) informed today. This has become possible due to cooperation with Banca Comerciala Romana (Romanian Commercial Bank) and Banca Transilvania and will ease, first of all, the living of Moldova’s citizens who study or work in Romania, according to a BNM press release.

At a request by BNM, the two big licenced banks from Romania, with a cumulative quota of about one third of the Romanian banking market, will launch the currency exchange service Moldovan lei (MDL) for Romanian lei (RON) by private persons on the territory of Romania, as well as the service of banking transfers in Moldovan lei by one of these banks.

The MDL/RON currency exchange service will be available at the branches and offices from the main cities of Romania as of 1 October 2018. The calendar of the launch and additional details on the new services will be communicated by the two banks separately. The Banca Comerciala Romana is the only stockholder of the Banca Comerciala Romana Chisinau stock company and Banca Transilvania is the major shareholder, along with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Commercial Bank Victoriabank stock company.   

BNM noted that the comprehensive and innovating project was backed by the central banks from Romania and Moldova, in order to simplify the living of Moldova’s citizens who study or work in Romania. Romania is the first trade partner of Moldova, with a share of 26 per cent in exports and 14 per cent in the Moldovan imports in the first half of this year. In the tourism sector, Romania is the third destination of Moldovans with about 15 per cent of the travels, according to data for the first eight months of 2018. At the same time, Romanian citizens accounted for 20 per cent of all tourists who visited Moldova on the same period, placing Romania on the first position among the origin countries of foreign visitors.  

The large-scale acceptance of the Moldovan leu for currency exchange outside Moldova’s borders is a first ever event and represent an additional step towards strengthening the reliability and convertibility of the national currency, the National Bank of Moldova added.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor M. Jantovan)