In Central and Eastern Europe UniCredit is managing private clients assets worth EUR 13 billion

Private Clients’ Assets in UniCredit Bulbank reached BGN 665 million at the end of January 2012. This was announced by Ivan Dzhonov, Head of Private Banking at UniCredit Bulbank, at a press conference. Approximately the same asset volume (around EUR 300 million) in this segment is managed by the bank also in Russia, Slovakia and Hungary.

The total value of the financial assets of private clients managed by UniCredit in Central and Eastern Europe is EUR 13 billion. The number of clients in the region is a little above 43,000, served by 66 specialized branches of Private Banking. The biggest share in this segment is held by Turkey where the total value of the financial assets of private clients managed by UniCredit amounts to EUR 6.5 billion. Second in the ranking is Poland with EUR 2.2. bn worth assets of private clients.

“In the field of Private Banking we do not compete with the banks in the Bulgarian market but with the leading banks worldwide”, commented Levon Hampartzoumian, UniCredit Bulbank CEO.

In the Bulgarian market UniCredit Bulbank serves 1,300 private clients as at the end of January this year. The attracted funds from these clients amount to BGN 552 mn. This puts UniCredit Bulbank Private Banking in the first place with 23% market share with regard to the number of private clients. The bank is a leader also in terms of the deposit mass of this particular segment of private clients in Bulgaria with around 18% market share.

“According to the latest research data in 2011 nearly 70% of UniCredit Bulbank’s clients in the Private Banking segment are satisfied clients loyal to the bank, which means that we are easy to deal with and we are motivated to offer the best banking service in the market”, said Ivan Dzhonov.

In order to be classified in the Private Clients segment the clients of UniCredit Bulbank need to have financial assets (deposit and current accounts, mutual funds and securities) with value exceeding BGN 350,000. The presumed household annual income must exceed BGN 100,000. Such clients are usually company owners; professional top managers with high standard of living and substantial annual income; heirs who have come in the possession of considerable financial assets from sale of inherited properties or shares of their own business, and we could also include here freelancers ¬¬¬- art and sports professionals with high potential for development and substantial annual income.

The positive development of the private banking segment for the entire banking system is confirmed also by the latest statistics of the Bulgarian National Bank. The number of deposits with an amount of more than BGN 1 mn has risen by 54% within two years and as at the end of December 2011 that number is 553. A total of BGN 1.3 bn are deposited on accounts with account balance exceeding BGN 1 mn as at the end of last year, which represents an increase of 50% over a period of two years.

“The BNB data confirms the increased inclination for saving during the crisis because people feel insecure. Apart from that, lots of the funds that circulated in the business in the time before the crisis turned out to be on accounts of individual clients but we hope that this is only a temporary lack of investment prospect”, explained Ivan Dzhonov.

The number of deposits with an amount above BGN 200,000 has grown by 45% reaching 6,063 in the period December 2009 – December 2011. The total deposited amount on such accounts is BGN 3.3 bn, marking a growth of 42% for two years. The share of deposits with an amount exceeding BGN 200,000 is 11% of the total deposit mass of the households.

Especially for its private clients UniCredit Bulbank offered in February its first structured deposit Blue Chips. The accumulated funds on it reached EUR 4 million. The Blue Chips deposit allows a possibility for safekeeping and increasing of the savings. This product invests in the so called blue chips – shares of companies that are leaders in their own sector, with a stable track record of sustainable revenues, high credit rating, high market capitalization etc.

The main characteristic of the Blue Chips structured deposit is the possibility for getting additional yield higher than that of standard deposits, calculated as an arithmetic average from the actual yield of each share for the period of the deposit. Blue chips are with equal weight of 20% each. These include Kraft Foods, Coca Cola, Vodafone Group, Novartis AG and McDonald’s. All of the above are anti-cyclical companies or companies whose revenues are not directly connected with the economic cycle. The market capitalization of the five companies is USD 580 billion, which is 11 times more than Bulgaria's GDP for the last year.

The period of deposit opening started on 20 February 2012 and continued until 8 March 2012 and the period of fixed-term depositing is from 9 March 2012 until 9 March 2014.

Due to the great interest to this product UniCredit Bulbank plans offering to its clients other new structured deposits as the investment basket will reflect the latest trends in the development of the world’s financial markets.

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

Viktoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Magdalena Ivanova, Phone: + 359 2 9232 528, nbhebmfob/jwbopwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

More information for clients: UniCredit Bulbank, Call Centre Phone: 0700 1 84 84