«We don’t lose sleep over bankarization» (+photos).

The micro and small business Aleday Surl, formerly Buona Sera Restaurant, is the first economic actor of its kind to have an extra cashier service in the province of Matanzas and one of the first in Cuba.

Located in the city’s central General Betancourt Avenue, next to Los Pinos Park, in the Playa Popular Council, for more than two years it has had QR as an option for payment by transfer through the transfermobile.

Even long before all these processes, his partner Daysi Lorenzo García started paying workers’ salaries through magnetic cards.

From there came the idea of the extra cashier to benefit the collective and also provide this service to anyone who needed cash through Etecsa’s payment platform.

Since September 19th of this year, branch 3461 of the Bank of Credit and Commerce, of which they are customers, activated the extra cashier’s office, according to its director Osmel García Batista.

The executive explained that two new MSMEs, Paulin El Cafetazo and Amoa Construcciones, which are working together with Xetid and Etecsa, will soon be incorporated.

In his recent visit to the city, Javier Quiñones, vice-minister of the Central Bank of Cuba, recognized the development of the extra box as one of the most social services by bringing it closer to the community.

It is not for nothing that she and her husband Teovaldo Ramírez, administrator of the site, assure that bankarization has not kept them awake at a time when not a few economic actors dread the word.

Aleday Surl is no stranger to the context, payment to suppliers is always a challenge, in most cases they negotiate for it to be by transfer.

The couple from Matanzas has always adapted to deposit in their bank branch, so the extra cashier service saves them the trip there, and for this concept more than 40 thousand pesos are withdrawn daily to anyone who needs it.

Sometimes there is money left in the cash box and they have to deposit it in the bank, but as people learn about this service, they approach the private entity that has a work team capable of providing guidance on these issues.

Obviously, Aleday Surl benefits from the bank bonuses offered by the system for implementing the extra box.

According to data provided by the Bank of Credit and Commerce, the province of Matanzas has 1,070 extra cashboxes and so far this year, more than 23 million pesos have been withdrawn through the Enzona platform and more than 21 million through Transfermóvil.

The western Cuban territory is the first in the country in operations and extra cash withdrawals through Enzona.

Written by Yunielys Moliner Isasi.