• The bank is the only institution in the Bulgarian market that takes part in the ratings in all categories of the survey

UniCredit Bulbank is the best custodian bank in Bulgaria in 2010 according to the annual survey of the prestigious magazine Global Custodian.

The bank convincingly leads in the survey results for the sixth consecutive year, and it is the only institution which is awarded a rating in all three categories to reach the end result - „top rated cross border/non-affiliated”, „top rated domestic” and „commended leading clients”.

All clients who use the custody services of UniCredit Bulbank gave best in class scores for the bank’s services in reporting, income collection and technology.

Among the reasons for the leading scores in Global Custodian’s survey, the magazine marks the bank’s large market share, as well as the increasing number of local clients which the bank attracts.

The magazine mentions some of the comments received from clients, and among these: “Very good communication in solving problems in settlement and funding flexibility” and “Staff is competent and always responsive to our needs. In UniCredit Bulbank we see a solid securities services provider on whom we can rely”. Additionally clients also value highly the bank’s Europe-wide coverage.

UniCredit Bulbank’s Global Securities Services provide the full range of services related to local and foreign investor portfolios including settlement and safekeeping of financial instruments, corporate actions processing (notices, proxy voting, capital increases, tender offers, etc.), income collection (dividends, interest and redemptions), tax relief/reclaim, net asset valuation, reporting and compliance monitoring.

Among the bank’s custody clients are other banks and brokerage companies, pension and insurance companies, mutual funds, as well as global custodians, international financial institutions and foreign investment funds.

Global Custodian is among the most prestigious international publications in the securities services industry, and it performs the Agent Banks in Emerging Markets survey among the custodians’ clients on an annual basis.

The survey measures the perception of securities service quality in 66 countries from three basic categories of clients:

1) „cross border/non-affiliated” - clients who are based in a jurisdiction other than their agent’s, and who are not affiliated with that bank by ownership or other form of business alliance;

2) „domestic” - based in the same country as their agent; for the first time the magazine removed from the survey the responses from related institutions and included the opinions only of non-affiliated clients;

3) „leading clients” - select group of international institutions that rate more than 10 agents and possess significant knowledge in making assessments of securities services providers.

Respondents complete a detailed questionnaire which consists of 71 questions divided in 11 service categories, such as client service, reporting, corporate actions, income collection, proxy voting, etc. The results received from clients are summarized and best-in-class benchmark scores are set for each of the 11 service categories in the questionnaire.

* The full survey results are available in the internet site of the Global Custodian – www.globalcustodian.com upon registration.