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
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