About 28,000 recipients of various forms of social payments, such as pensions, submitted requests to change their provider, choosing one of the 7 banks contracted by the National Company of Social Insurances (CNAS). Maria Borta, chairman of CNAS, told a press conference that the procedure is very simple – the customer goes to his chosen bank with an ID and submits a request, which is then forwarded to CNAS.

The 7 banks contracted by CNAS are Moldova-Agroindbank, Moldinconbank, Victoriabank, FinComBank, Eximbank, Energbank and EuroCreditBank. These institutions will issue debit cards for free to the social payments recipients, without any maintenance fees, IPN reports.

The transfer from one provider to another can take up to a month. Those who have submitted a transfer request this month, will receive their money at their chosen provider next month. Those who haven't submitted a request, will receive their money via the Post of Moldova, while having the right to change their provider at any time. The timetable of social payments will remain the same. The people serviced by the Post of Moldova will receive their money at the post office in the sectors, towns or villages where they have their official residence.

The money that hasn't been picked up from Banca de Economii, which is undergoing liquidation, will be returned to CNAS and redirected to the providers chosen by beneficiaries or to the Post of Moldova. This includes payments accumulated over several months either because the card holders have been abroad or because of any other reason.

According to CNAS data, about one million Moldovans receive social payments. Until now, 700,000 of them have been serviced only by the Post of Moldova.