2009-02-19
1. Declaring legal tender and issue into circulation of the 50 litas commemorative coin and 1 litas circulation coin dedicated to Vilnius, European Capital of Culture 2009
The Board of the Bank of Lithuania decided to declare the 50 litas commemorative coin and 1 litas circulation coin dedicated to Vilnius, European Capital of Culture 2009, legal tender and to issue them into circulation from 17 March 2009.
Graphic designs and plaster models of these coins were created by the artist Vytautas Narutis.
The coins will be minted by UAB Lietuvos monetu kalykla (Lithuanian Mint). The planned mintage of the 50 litas silver coin will be 10,000 pcs, whereas the planned mintage of the 1 litas coin made of copper and nickel alloy will be 1 million pcs.
2. Amendment of the Resolution of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania No. 49 of 29 April 1999 on the Adoption of the Rules for Establishing Compliance of the Currency of the Republic of Lithuania with Acceptability Features and Exchanging Worn and Damaged Currency
The resolution adopted by the Board of the Bank of Lithuania today establishes possibilities for commercial banks to introduce a new method for ensuring banknote security in ATM’s. If the ATM is moved, special security paint spills over inside it and smears banknotes. In such case, the banknotes stolen from ATMs and smeared with security paint should be considered to be illegally acquired and should not be exchanged, whereas the territorial city (regional) police station should be informed about the event.
The amended Rules for Establishing Compliance of the Currency of the Republic of Lithuania with Acceptability Features and Exchanging Worn and Damaged Currency provide that the Bank of Lithuania shall exchange banknotes smeared with special paint used for the protection against theft submitted by commercial banks and institutions using such paint in their operations.
People are advised to avoid such “coloured” banknotes, since these banknotes may be illegally acquired.
During the investigation of banknotes damaged mechanically or by fire, sometimes they lacks serial characters or one or more digits of their numbers, although the remaining area of the banknote is sufficient. The amended rules allow the exchange of such banknotes as well. However, the decision on acceptability of such currency will be made by the currency experts of the Bank of Lithuania.
3. Adoption of the Procedure for the Calculation of the Fees for the Services of the Payment System LITAS-RLS and the Retail Payment System LITAS-MMS
The Board of the Bank of Lithuania adopted the Procedure for the Calculation of the Fees for the Services of the Payment System LITAS-RLS and the Retail Payment System LITAS-MMS. This document will allow setting lower than currently fees for the processing of urgent and ordinary payment orders.
It is planned that from 1 April 2009 the fee for the processing of an urgent payment order will be reduced from the current fee of LTL 0.31 to LTL 0.23, whereas the fee for the processing of an ordinary payment order will be reduced from LTL 0.28 to LTL 0.21.
The Bank of Lithuania manages two payment systems for settlements in litas and is their operator: real time gross settlement system LITAS-RLS and retail payment system LITAS-MMS. The Bank of Lithuania, domestic commercial banks, foreign bank branches and the Central Credit Union of Lithuania are participants of these systems. These systems are also used by financial brokerage companies, other participants of the securities market and AB Lietuvos centrinis vertybiniu popieriu depozitoriumas (Central Securities Depository of Lithuania).
Since January 2004, when the payment system LITAS (later reorganised into two systems) started its operation, the fees are being reduced for the third time already.
For more details about this Board Resolution, see the separate press release.