UniCredit Bulbank
is the largest
[2]
bank
of
Bulgaria
. Before 1994, the bank was known as the
Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank
or
BFTB
. UniCredit Bulbank was formed in 2007 as a merger between Bulbank, Biochim, and Hebros Bank, all of them owned by the
UniCredit Group
.
History
[
edit
]
Bulbank's prototype, the Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank, started in 1964 as a fully state-owned bank, with a paid-up capital of
BGL
40 million and statutory specialisation in foreign trade payments and finance. Representative offices of the Bank in
London
,
Frankfurt
, and
Vienna
were opened during the next two decades.
BFTB took part of the establishment of two joint stock companies in 1987 and 1998 ? Bayerisch-Bulgarische Handelsbank GmbH (after 1998, HypoVereinsbank Bulgaria) with
Bayerische Vereinsbank
(HVB) and Bulgarsovinvest (after 1994,
Corporate Commercial Bank
) with
Vnesheconombank
, respectively.
In 1991, after the
fall of the Communist regime
, the Bank Consolidation Company (BCC) was founded as a holding company to consolidate the state ownership in the banking sector and to facilitate the privatisation of banks. BCC held 98% of Bulbank's share capital. Bulbank was the first Bulgarian bank to adopt
SWIFT
codes, whereby it significantly strengthened its operational performance and enhanced the reliability of its transactions.
The 1992 meeting of shareholders changed the bank's status to a universal commercial bank, so the branch network was expanded (
Plovdiv
,
Kardzhali
,
Burgas
,
Stara Zagora
, etc.), focusing on customer service in the years to follow.
In 1994, the meeting of shareholders passed a resolution to change the bank's name to Bulbank.
In 1998, Bulbank co-branded its international card payment system with
Visa International
and
Europay International
.
As a result of the privatisation procedure between 1998 and 2000
UniCredito Italiano
possessed of 93% of the capital and
Allianz
had 5%. Bulbank sold its participations in Corporate Commercial Bank (99,9%), as well as that in United Bulgarian Bank (35%) and in HypoVereinsbank Bulgaria (49%).
In 2001 Bulbank's major shareholder, UniCredito, sold minor stakes to the Italian
SIMEST
S.p.A., Rome, and the
International Finance Corporation
? 2,5% and 5,3% of the share capital respectively.
Since 2006, Bulbank has been in the process of merging with
HVB Bank Biochim
and
Hebros Bank
, after UniCredit Group's merger with
HVB Group
in 2005.
On April 27, 2007, the legal merger between Bulbank, HVB Bank Biochim and Hebros Bank was announced. The name of the merged institution is UniCredit Bulbank.
[3]
Since 2001, the CEO of UniCredit Bulbank is Levon Hampartzoumian.
In May 2019, Teodora Petkova became the CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of UniCredit Bulbank.
[4]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Протоколи КЗП договори за кредит *
[1]
Предписание от КЗП *
[2]
Наказателно постановление No. ЗИИП-К-8729/01.12.2010 г. *
[3]