UniCredit Bulbank and Mobile Monday gave the official start of the competition for mobile applications and interactive content UniCredit App Challenge, powered by Mobile Monday with a prize pool of BGN 10,000.

In the competition UniCredit App Challenge participation is possible with a development, a concept or a demo version of an application by 23 June 2013.

The bank which offers the best and most secure, convenient and reliable services through user-friendly platforms, mobile banking included, will be a market leader in the mid- and long-term. This was said by Levon Hampartzoumian, CEO of UniCredit Bulbank, yesterday evening at the opening of UniCredit App Challenge powered by Mobile Monday in betahouse Sofia, the event which gathered professionals and people keen on mobile technologies, applications and web content.

Hampartzoumian said that one of the things which are going to change in the forthcoming years is the way we do banking. "The mystery of banking ended with the crisis in 2008.", the banker said.

"A growing part of our interaction with the world happens through screens, and this trend is valid for bank customers too", said Paolo Barbesino, Head of Internet and Mobile Banking, CEE Retail Banking Division at UniCredit. One of the reasons underlying the development of mobile services is that customers always feel the urge to look for ways to save both time and effort. According to Paolo Barbesino, banks are at the start line in the development of mobile banking. At the same time the latest data shows that the potential for growth is very big – more than 150 times a day users check different information on the screens of their phones.

Teodor Hampartzoumian, Director of the Global Solutions Center (GSC) with the Global Remote Services Center of НР Bulgaria quoted forecasts according to which by 2020 4 billion people will be connected to the Internet. Besides, every 14 months there is a twofold increase in the volumes of data used by the business. This is a huge database which requires a serious infrastructure. "One of the latest trends and topics is IOT (Internet of Things). In five years' time most of our cars will be connected to the Internet, the morning alarm will wake us up only after checking whether there is a traffic jam, what the situation of the public transport is and whether we need to wake up a couple of minutes earlier to avoid being late, probably we will be able to turn off the iron we forgot also through the Internet. This is an enormous quantity of information. The current concept does not yet allow for such growth to happen, but work is being done towards it". For the first time, before the audience of UniCredit App Challenge, powered by Mobile Monday, he presented the new HP Moonshot Server, which offers a solution to this problem.

At the meeting, Anatoli Atanasov, Senior Sales Advisor at Oracle Bulgaria, presented an outline of tomorrow's customers of the financial institutions, the people who use or would use mobile banking. These are people currently between 21 and 33 years old, 72% of them use the Internet on a regular basis, they have financial knowledge and act in a smart and efficient way. This accounts for 20% of the population of Bulgaria.

UniCredit Bulbank and Mobile Monday officially launched the competition for mobile applications and interactive content at the UniCredit App Challenge event powered by Mobile Monday. Joining in the competition UniCredit App Challenge, powered by Mobile Monday will be possible in the period 28 May - 23 June 2013. The ten best developers/teams will be invited to present their developments and concepts for applications on 1 July 2013 in front of a professional jury composed of representatives of the business and the IT sector. Chairman of the jury will be the CEO of UniCredit Bulbank Mr. Levon Hampartzoumian. The winners will be announced at an official ceremony on 1 July. The first three winners will receive monetary prizes in total amount of BGN 6,000 as well as modern HTC smart phones. The total prize pool is worth over BGN 10,000.

Participation in the competition UniCredit App Challenge is possible with a development, a concept or a demo version of an application in one of the following categories: personal finance, small business, banking of the future, applications for specialized client segments, games and entertainment.

A main partner in the organization of the competition UniCredit App Challenge is Mobile Monday - a global community which unites people with interests in the mobile industry, who exchange ideas, share experience and discuss the new trends in the sphere of communications and the impact they have on our lifestyle. Some of the goals of Mobile Monday are promoting the innovations in the mobile sector, facilitating the connection between small and big, local and international companies, etc. Part of the prize pool for the competition is provided by HTC, and some of the media partners are SocialEvo, Mediabit, Enterprise.bg, MobileBulgaria, Marketing 360.

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

Viktoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Ekaterina Ancheva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 963, flbufsjob/bodifwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Magdalena Ivanova, Phone: + 359 2 9232 528, nbhebmfob/jwbopwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch