The three banks, members of UniCredit Group in Bulgaria – Bulbank, HVB Bank Biochim and Hebros Bank, have become one UniCredit Bulbank as of 27th April 2007 when the court registration to the new entity has been granted.

UniCredit Bulbank is the undisputable market leader in Bulgaria with assets of over BGN 7.5 billion. Over one million individual and corporate customers in the country will benefit from an extensive banking network of over 300 branches and over 4000 employees. UniCredit Bulbank is number one in total loans of about 4.5 BGN billion and is the main financing institution for the business in the country with BGN 2.6 billion loans to companies. The bank holds also leading positions in deposits to customers (BGN 5.3 billion) and loans to small businesses and individuals (BGN 1.9 billion).

"UniCredit Bulbank has a clear strategic orientation: It is a universal Bulgarian bank, within a European banking group, with an ambitious growth strategy in servicing individual clients, private customers, small and mid sized businesses, and larger domestic and multinational corporates. Customer satisfaction is the key driver of UniCredit Bulbank’s business activities”, said Levon Hampartzoumian, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of UniCredit Bulbank.

The customers of UniCredit Bulbank will benefit from the know-how and the prestige of a large European organization. At the same time, they retain their familiar relationship managers and local contacts, who speak their language and know their requirements. The UniCredit Group's organizational principles serve to fulfill these dual customer requirements precisely. Within UniCredit Group, UniCredit Bulbank will be able to use economies of scale due to its size and thus provide a faster and more efficient fairly-priced products and services to the clients.

The bank can also serve its customers who are involved in cross-border business in Europe within the UniCredit Group banking network. Customers will experience the same level of service and reliability throughout Europe.

Strong management team

The business goals ahead of UniCredit Bulbank are challenging and therefore a strong team of leaders was selected to head the new bank.The Management Board consists of five members

• Levon Hampartzoumian, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of UniCredit Bulbank

• Peter Harold, Chief Operative Officer and Deputy Chairman of the Board

• Andrea Casini, Chief Business Officer

• Stanislav Georgiev, Chief Financial Officer

• Emilia Palibachiyska, Chief Director of Global Business Services

New state-of-the-art IT banking system

As of mid 2007 the whole banking network of UniCredit Bulbank will operate on one state-of-the-art banking IT system. The branch network of Hebros Bank already successfully implemented the upgraded IT solution at the beginning of April. The process continues with the banking network of HVB Bank Biochim, which will join the new system as of May 7th and after that at the end of June the process will be finalized also in Bulbank. “The implementation of the new IT system is a challenge for us. The effort is worth is as all clients will be able to feel a faster and more efficient service”, explained Levon Hampartzoumian.

UniCredit Group is the widest provider of financial services in Bulgaria

With the successful integration of its entities, UniCredit Group becomes the main provider of a vast diversity of financial services in the country. In addition to the leading banking business through UniCredit Bulbank, the group also includes the biggest leasing company – UniCredit Leasing, the factoring company UniCredit Factoring, UniCredit Clarima, specialized in direct consumer financing. UniCredit Bulbank also holds the leading position in mutual finds assets in Bulgaria through Pioneer Investments.

UniCredit Bulbank is a member of UniCredit Group. A strong European player, UniCredit Group is the fifth-largest bank in the EU and third-largest in the euro area in terms of its market capitalization. It offers a unique combination of a strong position in affluent regions of Europe and a dominant position in the rapidly growing CEE countries. Approximately 140,000 people in 20 European countries work for this group. All in all, more than 7,200 branches are available to the Group's approximately 35 million customers.