The subsidiaries of UniCredit Group in Bulgaria, Bulbank, HVB Bank Biochim and Hebros Bank, have merged into UniCredit Bulbank.

The new bank is the indisputable market leader in Bulgaria with assets of around €4.2bn. Over 1mn individual and corporate customers in the country will benefit from an extensive banking network of more than 300 branches and 4,000 employees.

UniCredit Bulbank is a universal bank with an ambitious growth strategy in servicing individual clients, private customers, small and mid-sized businesses, and larger domestic and multinational corporates. Due to the size of UniCredit Group, UniCredit Bulbank will be able to use economies of scale and thus provide faster and more efficient products and services to the clients, claims the bank. Moreover, clients are able to use cross-border business service throughout the banking network.

The management board consists of five members: Levon Hampartzoumian, CEO and chairman; Peter Harold, chief operative officer and deputy chairman; Andrea Casini, chief business officer; CFO Stanislav Georgiev; and Emilia Palibachiyska, chief director of global business services.

UniCredit Group operates the largest international banking network in the Central and Eastern European region with more than 3,000 branches. More than 65,000 employees serve some 24mn customers in 17 countries in the region.

The group maintains banking activities in the following countries: Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Within UniCredit Group, Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA) is responsible for the banking activities in CEE (excluding Poland and Ukraine).