UniCredit Bulbank is the largest bank

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

 of Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

. 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

Bulbank's prototype, the Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank, started in 1964 as a fully state-owned bank, with a paid-up capital of BGL

Bulgarian lev

The lev is the currency of Bulgaria. It is divided in 100 stotinki . In archaic Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion".It is speculated that Bulgaria, as a member of the European Union will adopt the Euro in 2015 .- First lev, 1881–1952 :...

 40 million and statutory specialization in foreign trade payments and finance. Representative offices of the Bank in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, and Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 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

HypoVereinsbank

UniCredit Bank Aktiengesellschaft is the sixth-largest private German financial institution, with a strong presence in Bavaria. The company is based in Munich, and together with Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Commerzbank and Deutsche Postbank, it belongs to the Cash Group...

 (HVB) and Bulgarsovinvest (after 1994, Corporate Commercial Bank) with Vnesheconombank, respectively.

In 1991, after the 1989 coup, 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

Swift

The swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are actually not closely related to passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they share with hummingbirds...

 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

Plovdiv

Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...

, Kardzhali

Kardzhali

Kardzhali or Kurdzhali is a town in Bulgaria, capital of Kardzhali Province in the Eastern Rhodopes. Near the town is the noted Kardzhali Dam.-Geography:...

, Burgas

Burgas

-History:During the rule of the Ancient Romans, near Burgas, Debeltum was established as a military colony for veterans by Vespasian. In the Middle Ages, a small fortress called Pyrgos was erected where Burgas is today and was most probably used as a watchtower...

, Stara Zagora

Stara Zagora

Stara Zagora is the sixth largest city in Bulgaria, and a nationally important economic center. Located in Southern Bulgaria, it is the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province...

, 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

Europay International

Europay International was the name of the entity created by the merger of Eurocard International, and Eurocheque International. The merged entity was headquartered in Waterloo, Belgium, on the same premises as EPSS and MasterCard EMEA .Europay International was the owner of the...

.

As a result of the privatisation procedure between 1998 and 2000 UniCredito Italiano possessed of 93% of the capital and Allianz

Allianz

SE is a global financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core business and focus is insurance. As of 2010, it was the world's 12th-largest financial services group and 23rd-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.Its Allianz Global Investors...

 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

International Finance Corporation

The International Finance Corporation promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing countries.IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States....

 — 2,5% and 5,3% of the share capital respectively.

Since 2006, Bulbank has been in the process of merging with HVB Bank Biochim

HVB Bank Biochim

HVB Bank Biochim, founded in 1986, was merged into UniCredit Bulbank in 2007....

 and Hebros Bank, after UniCredit Group's merger with HVB Group in 2005.

On April 27 is announced the legal merger between Bulbank. HVB Bank Biochim and Hebros Bank. The name of the merged institution is UniCredit Bulbank