The Credit and Commerce Bank (Bandec) in Matanzas has started to implement a personalized 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 clarify that not all actors attending the banks will automatically receive the cash they request. This is an analysis we will conduct gradually," emphasized the official.
In the initial stage, the priority will be given to businesses involved in the production and marketing of food; subsequently, the process will extend to other economic players based on their levels of activity and income.
Bandec proposes to establish a cash flow planning with each business—weekly, biweekly, or monthly—based on the volume of operations.
"We want to provide them with the cash they truly generate through their deposits and the online payments they receive, in accordance with the level of activity each entity has," Chávez specified.
The bank also distinguishes between online payments and bank transfers; the former carries more weight in the evaluation because the new measures include bonuses of 2% for the seller and 4% for the buyer on such transactions, effective from August 1st.
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 -effective since August 2023-, and replaced it with individual negotiations between each bank and its clients.
The stated goal is not to eliminate cash from transactions but to reduce the population's dependence on that payment method.
"What we aim for is that the population 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 actor who has the necessary cash to continue their business," concluded the provincial director of Bandec.
The new scheme arrives in a context of the structural failure of the mandatory banking process imposed in 2023, as three years later, less than 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 empty.
The crisis has led to extreme situations. In Guantánamo, 113 private businesses are paying pensions to over 3,000 retirees under the Caja Extra scheme.
Meanwhile, in Las Tunas, a private bar in Amancio is managing the collection of pension checks for over 40 retirees, highlighting how the State has transferred 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 since early morning, while some businesses impose surcharges between 10% and 30% for digital payments.
The National Assembly of the People's Power responded to the crisis with Agreement X-171, approved on July 29, which demands 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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