This article provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about Bulgaria's transition from Bulgarian lev (BGN) to euro (EUR), and how it will affect Payhawk users.
General questions
When will Bulgaria officially adopt the euro?
Bulgaria is scheduled to officially adopt the EUR as its national currency on January 1, 2026, replacing the BGN, in accordance with the Law for the Euro Implementation (LEI).
What will the exchange rate be?
The official exchange rate for Bulgaria’s transition to the euro has been set at 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN. This fixed rate will be used for converting all balances and transactions from BGN to EUR starting from January 1, 2026. The rate is the same as the current fixed exchange rate under the currency board arrangement and will not change during the transition.
What does dual pricing display mean?
Several months before the official adoption of the euro, banks and fintechs must display prices, fees, and account balances in both BGN and EUR. This mandatory dual display period will continue for 12 months after the euro’s introduction, until December 31, 2026.
During the transition period, banks and fintechs will implement specific practices for displaying balances.
Pre-conversion
Before January 1, 2026, both currencies, BGN and EUR, will be displayed, at the fixed exchange rate of 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN. For example, a customer with 1,955.83 BGN in their account will see this amount in BGN, along with its equivalent of 1,000 EUR in account statements or banking apps.
Dual circulation period
For one month after the euro is adopted (January 1-31, 2026), both BGN and EUR will be accepted as legal tender for cash payments. However, starting January 1, 2026, all account balances will be officially converted to EUR, and cash withdrawals, whether from ATMs or bank counters, will be available in EUR only.
To ensure transparency, account statements and banking apps will continue to display historical BGN balances alongside their EUR equivalents, particularly for transactions made before the conversion date.
Post-conversion
After the dual circulation period ends (after January 31, 2026), EUR will become the sole legal tender in Bulgaria, and all account balances will be displayed exclusively in EUR. However, to support a smooth transition, the dual display of prices and balances, in both EUR and their BGN equivalents, will continue until December 31, 2026.
For example, a customer’s account balance of 1,000 EUR will be shown as 1,000 EUR, with the equivalent 1,955.83 BGN displayed alongside it until the end of 2026.
What will happen to my BGN accounts when EUR is adopted?
All BGN-denominated accounts, such as current, savings, deposit, or budgetary accounts, held with banks or fintechs will be automatically converted to EUR on the official conversion date - January 1, 2026.
The conversion will use the fixed exchange rate of 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN and will follow official rounding rules to the second decimal place. This is a one-time conversion that will be carried out free of charge, with no fees or commissions applied by banks or fintech providers.
For example, a balance of 1,955.83 BGN will be converted to exactly 1,000 EUR, and a balance is 2,000 BGN will be converted to approximately 1,022.58 EUR.
What will happen to my EUR accounts when EUR is adopted?
When BGN accounts are converted to euros on January 1, 2026, your existing EUR accounts will remain unchanged. The LEI does not require banks or fintech providers to automatically merge converted BGN balances with your existing EUR accounts.
Instead, it allows you as an account holder to transfer your converted EUR balances to another account, for example, an existing EUR account, within the same bank or fintech provider at no charge.
You can choose to:
Keep the converted EUR balance in the same account, now denominated in EUR.
Transfer the converted EUR balance to an existing EUR account within the same provider.
Close the BGN account (now in EUR) for free after transferring the funds.
For example, if you have a BGN account with 1,955.83 BGN (converted to 1,000 EUR) and an existing EUR account with 500 EUR, you can transfer the 1,000 EUR to the existing EUR account, resulting in a single EUR account with 1,500 EUR. Alternatively, you can maintain separate EUR accounts.
Account details
Will my IBAN change?
No. IBANs remain the same. The currency denomination of the existing account automatically changes from BGN to EUR.
How will I deposit funds in my newly converted balance?
Your bank account number (IBAN) will remain exactly the same, so you can continue using it as before. However, when sending money from an external bank to your Payhawk account, you may need to provide additional address information. This is because these transfers will now process through the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) network, which sometimes requires more detailed recipient information than was previously needed.
Payhawk cards
Will my cards change?
No. Your card number, the PAN will remain the same. Only the currency of the card will be changed from BGN to EUR on January 1, 2026.
Do I have to issue new cards?
No. Your current BGN cards will be fully operational post switch, denominated to EUR.
Will I need to activate or re-PIN my card?
No. Your existing physical and virtual cards will continue to work with the same PIN and activation status, automatically drawing from the newly converted EUR balance.
What happens with my card limits?
Your stand-alone cards limit will be converted from BGN to EUR. For example, if your BGN card has a 150 BGN limit today, on January 1 the limit will be automatically converted to 76.69 EUR (rounded to the second decimal point).
Your Team cards limit will be converted from BGN to EUR. For example, if you have a Marketing Team card with a limit of 5000 BGN, it will be converted to 2556.46 EUR.
Spend policies will not be changed. Since spend policies are not currency-specific, any BGN cards using spend policies will carry over the same numeric value but in EUR (100 BGN becomes 100 EUR). Review and adjust, if needed. For information how to change a spend policy you may refer to assigning, changing, and removing spend policies from employee cards.
Your available card funds will be automatically converted to the EUR equivalent.
Invoice payments
Will BISERA be discontinued?
BISERA payments will be officially discontinued. We will stop BISERA payments one day before the announced cutoff.
What happens to pending BGN payments?
Any BISERA payment that fail to settle before the cutoff date will be rejected and returned to your account. Payhawk will not automatically re-initiate the payment in EUR. You will be able to authorise a payment in EUR for invoices in BGN using the reference rate 1.95583 on/after January 1, 2026.
How will domestic transactions work?
All EUR payments will use the SEPA scheme (SEPA Credit Transfer or SEPA Instant) for transfers to all SEPA countries.
Do I need to update supplier details?
On the transition date, all supplier payment details in BGN will be automatically converted to EUR. After the transition, you can still pay your existing BGN bills from your new EUR account. The system will automatically convert your vendors' payment details to EUR and amounts will be converted using the official fixed conversion rate of 1.95583 BGN to 1 EUR.
BGN payment details do not include a mandatory address field for the recipient. Some recipient banks may require this field and reject transfers if it is missing. If a SEPA payment is rejected, you will be notified and prompted to provide this additional information.
Do I need to update reimbursement details?
On the transition date, all reimbursement details in BGN will be automatically converted to EUR. After the transition, you can still pay your existing BGN bills from your new EUR account. The system will automatically convert your vendors' payment details to EUR and amounts will be converted using the official fixed conversion rate of 1.95583 BGN to 1 EUR.
BGN payment details do not include a mandatory address field for the recipient. Some recipient banks may require this field and reject transfers if it is missing. If a SEPA payment is rejected, you will be notified and prompted to provide this additional information.
What happens to BGN bills that require payment in 2026 or scheduled supplier payments set up before the BISERA cutoff date?
Payhawk has disabled scheduling BGN payouts after the BGN to EUR transition date.
What will happen with my open per diem/ mileage expenses?
All per diem/mileage expenses that were initiated in BGN before December 31, 2025, and not yet paid will remain in their original BGN currency but will be paid from the converted EUR balance.
What will happen with my reimbursement expenses?
All reimbursement expenses that were initiated in BGN before December 31, 2025, and not yet paid will remain in their original BGN currency but will be paid from the converted EUR balance.
Accounting currency change
The below is applicable for you only if today your accounting currency is BGN. If not, you can skip this section.
When will my accounting currency change?
On January 1, 2026 your accounting currency will be automatically changed from BGN to EUR.
What happens when my accounting currency is changed to EUR?
This change will impact all BGN denominated settings, including Budgets (team & individual), Per diem rates, Mileage rates, conditional workflows.
For example, a per diem rate of BGN 40 converts to €20.45 (40 / 1.95583 = 20.45).
If your workflows are defined using approval amounts, these will be automatically converted from BGN to EUR. For example, an accountant is allowed to approve a bill up to 4000 BGN. Post switch this approval amount will be converted to 2045.16 EUR.