Latvian Central Bank Makes It Easier to Deposit Coins

At the start of January, Latvia’s central bank, Latvijas Banka, relocated the Cashier’s Offices to the same site as its cash processing centre and, at the same time, improved the coin change service that it offers.

The public can use the office to deposit coins, exchange lat banknotes and coins, replace damaged notes and coins, and collect commemorative coins purchased online.

Previously, for coin deposits, if the amount of change submitted exceeded 100 coins, it was transferred to the cash processing centre, and the relevant amount was credited to the customer’s bank account, which could take several working days.

As of the beginning of January this year, customers can now use automated coin deposit machines and receive the value of deposited coins in their accounts within seconds (on the condition that their chosen commercial bank offers instant payments). The service is free of charge, and up to €1,000 worth of coins can be deposited in any one month.

To use the service, which is now mandatory for deposits of more than 100 coins, customers need to register online in advance, specifying their bank account number and bank details. They then receive a user ID and create a password to be used when crediting coins to the account. Registration is required only once – the assigned user ID and password are permanent and can be used whenever coins are exchanged.

According to current data, 642 spare change deposit transactions valued at €193,000 were made using the deposit machines in January and 636, valued at €215,000 in February, with an average of 30 transactions per day.

The first months have highlighted the challenges of using the machines. For example, in some cases, people have not checked to see if there are any foreign objects before pouring the contents of their piggy banks or coin jars into the machine. Items such as SIM cards, fish scales and paper clips have also been deposited and, for one unfortunate customer, a wedding ring.

Because children are among the most enthusiastic collectors of spare change, some coins have come into contact with sweets, jam or other sticky substances and the machines either don’t identify them, or recognise them as damaged.

And in other cases, people have poured the coins into the machines and then left without checking if any unidentified coins have been left behind.

The experience of the first two months has resulted in the Bank fine-tuning the service and making recommendations that will make the coin deposit process easier.

These include registering at home before coming to the Bank, as inputting bank account details onsite can slow down the process of depositing the coins. Customers are also advised to check the contents of their piggy banks for foreign coins or other objects that may interfere with the machines, and are also advised to bring personal ID to the Cashier’s Offices so that their identity can be checked and any coins exchanged at the counters if they aren’t recognised by the machine.

Rounding on the cards

The central bank is also considering discontinuing the circulation of 1 and 2 euro cent coins and rounding prices. It is estimated that several million of these coins are ‘lost’ each year – around 10 million 1 cent coins, and another eight million 2 cent coins, with only 10% or so of coins returned to the Bank in any one year.

The Bank has already stopped replenishing the coins through new orders, obtaining the amounts necessary for circulation through exchanging other denomination coins with other euro area countries. In a survey last year, over half of the population supported a move to drop the so-called ‘brown coins’, compared with the majority in previous surveys who were opposed.

Similar are underway in neighbouring Estonia and Lithuania.