Serbian citizens will soon be able to withdraw money from their bank accounts in retail facilities where they shop providing that these facilities have POS terminals that will enable this. The service is called cashback and any retail facility (shops, kiosks, supermarkets and mega-markets) that have POS terminals will be able to provide it.
The joint press release by the National Bank of Serbia and the Serbian Ministry of Finance says that the retail outlets providing cash back service will contribute to a bigger use of payment cards and other modern payment methods, while, at the same time, curbing shadow economy.
In practice this means that if a shopper pays, for instance, 2,000 dinars for the goods he purchased, he will also be able to withdraw cash from the same shop, i.e. conduct both of these transactions (payment and cash withdrawal) at one POS terminal.
The maximum amount of cash that a shopper can withdraw is determined by the card issuer with the shops have a discretionary right to allow shoppers to withdraw a smaller amount than determined by the card issuer.
Also, there is no usually a set amount that a shopper needs to spend on purchase in order to be able to withdraw cash at the same time.
There is no need to issue retail facilities with a special approval to perform cashback services because the existing Law on Payment Services does not view this service as payment service.
Cashback service will be especially beneficial to those shoppers who live in towns that don’t have an extensive ATM network. Also, it will save shoppers time because now they don’t have to go to a separate location to withdraw cash from their bank accounts.
(RTS, 29.09.2017)
This post is also available in: Italiano