Laiki Bank of Australia was recently awarded the tender to assist Cypriot Australians in the delivery of their pension payments under the Federal Government’s Social Security Agreement between the two nations.
Laiki Bank was selected over major banks in Australia.
This new arrangement with the Department of Social Insurance Services in Cyprus, will allow Cypriot pensioners residing in Australia to receive their pension and other benefits credited directly into their bank accounts.
Under the Social Security Agreement between Cyprus and Australia, Australian citizens, their family members and survivors may receive Cypriot pensions under the same conditions as Cypriot nationals, regardless of where they live.
The agreement came into force on the 1 January 1993.
Laiki Bank Australia’s General Manager, Michalis Athanasiou said that winning the tender was very important to the Bank, because it has the right systems to ensure the service is delivered effectively.
“We are pleased to be providing the new streamlined system ensuring timely, efficient and accurate provision of pension payments to people who have earned and rely on these payments.”
The new process has eliminated the need to convert the funds more than once and removed unnecessary delays for no additional fee.
Until now, Cypriot pensioners residing in Australia received their pension and other benefit payments by cheque in US dollars, sent by mail from Cyprus.
A number of problems were associated with this arrangement, primarily postal delays and loss.
The recipients were also made to pay currency conversion fees twice, firstly when converting funds from Euro to US Dollars and then from US Dollars to Australian Dollars.