The Bank of Credit and Commerce (Bandec) in Matanzas has started to implement a tailored scheme to determine how much cash each private business can withdraw, without a fixed amount applicable to all economic actors, confirmed this Sunday the official newspaper Girón.
Yanetsy Chávez Camaraza, provincial director of Bandec, explained that each request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, considering the client's financial behavior, income, deposits, history, economic activity, and the use of digital channels.
"It is important to make it clear that not all stakeholders attending the banks will automatically receive the cash they request. This is an analysis that we will be carrying out gradually," the official emphasized.
In the initial phase, the focus will be on businesses engaged in the production and marketing of food; subsequently, the process will expand to include other economic participants based on their levels of activity and income.
Bandec proposes to establish a cash flow plan with each business—weekly, biweekly, or monthly—based on the volume of operations.
"We want to provide them with the cash that they actually generate through their deposits and the online payments they receive, corresponding to the level of activity each player has," Chávez specified.
The bank also differentiates between online payment and bank transfer; the former carries more weight in the evaluation because the new measures include bonuses of 2% for the seller and 4% for the buyer for transactions of that type, effective from August 1.
This strategy responds to Resolution 74/2026 of the Central Bank of Cuba, signed by its president Juana Lilia Delgado Portal and in effect since July 20, which eliminated the fixed limit of 5,000 Cuban pesos for cash transactions between economic actors - in effect since August 2023 - and replaced it with individual negotiations between each bank and its clients.
The stated objective is not to eliminate cash from transactions, but to reduce the population's dependence on that means of payment.
"What we aim for is that the public does not have to go to our branches to withdraw cash to shop at stores. Ideally, they should be able to use online payment, and it should be the economic agent who has the necessary cash to continue their business," concluded the provincial director of Bandec.
The new scheme arrives in a context of structural failure in the mandatory banking process imposed in 2023, as three years later, just under 4% of transactions in Cuba are digital, despite more than 15,240 fines and 269 closures of establishments nationwide. Additionally, over 50% of the country’s ATMs remain inoperable or out of cash.
The crisis has led to extreme situations. In Guantánamo, 113 private businesses pay pensions to more than 3,000 retirees under the Caja Extra scheme.
Meanwhile, in Las Tunas, a private bar in Amancio is managing the collection of checks for more than 40 retirees, illustrating how the state has shifted banking functions to the private sector.
In Matanzas, the banking chaos has its own history. In February, power outages left Bandec branches without service for four consecutive days, with lines forming from dawn, while some businesses impose surcharges ranging from 10% to 30% for digital payments.
The National Assembly of People's Power responded to the crisis with Agreement X-171, approved on July 29, which demands that the government and the Central Bank implement new measures to improve banking services, in addition to assigning its Economic Affairs Commission to evaluate the results in the upcoming December.
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