On January 1, 2014 Latvia became the latest country to join the euro. The multi-national security contractor G4S reports that more than 200 staff in its cash services arm have been involved a complex operation to distribute millions of new euro notes and coins and collect the Baltic republic’s former currency, Lats, from banks, businesses and ATMs around the country.
A fleet of 45 vans will cover more than 400,000km in a month, making sure the security firm’s customers have new euros. Pre-pack consignments of cash were sent out to 6,000 retail and other premises, 600 ATMs have been converted and were filled with the new Euro’s ahead of midnight, December 31, 2013.
In a normal month G4S Latvia process between 25 to 30 tonnes of coins. In the ‘Euro Roll-Out Month’ this will climb to 1,000 tonnes. Paul Edwards, Regional Cash Director, G4S Europe says: “We have considerable expertise in the Euro roll-out exercise, this is my fifth; and we are now the acknowledged experts in this field. Each time we do it we provide a better and more polished service for our clients. I want to pay tribute to our team in Riga and staff at the four G4S cash centres in Latvia . They have worked tirelessly over the Christmas and New Year holiday period to make this go smoothly. Our operation is designed to give the customers the highest level of service that they expect. There is still a month of very hard work before the operation is completed, but we have got off to fantastic start.”
