The international finance magazine Global Finance announced the results of the annual ranking for the global awards “Best Digital Bank” last night. The choice of the highly professional international jury for the “Best Digital Bank” 2016 for the consumers in Bulgaria is UniCredit Bulbank. The award will be given in October in London during the International Digital Bank Conference.

“The most successful banks in the world are those that in the most efficient way transform themselves in completely integrated digital banks and have a strong focus on the customer experience. The winners of this year’s awards are these banks which have realized that the corporate and the individual customers expect from their financial partners to ensure an easy access to high-quality financial services and instruments, which can be easily integrated in their digital everyday life” commented Joseph Giarraputo, publisher and editorial director of Global Finance.

“Each form of innovation and digitalization matters if it brings about actual benefits for the customers. Apparently, the direction in which we are moving is the right one since the international experts appreciate it too and give us the award for a second time. I congratulate the colleagues on the successful work and our clients on being active and modern people and on helping us improve the customer experience through constructive dialogue” commented Levon Hampartzoumian , Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of UniCredit Bulbank.

The criteria for selecting the “Best Consumer Digital Bank” include assessment of the strategy of the financial institution for attracting customers to the digital channels and indicators of its successful implementation when encouraging more customers to use these channels, growth of digital consumers, variety of product and service offerings in the digital channels, evidence of tangible benefits for the clients from the digital strategy, successful positioning in the social media, etc.

Innovations and digitalization in favor of the client are a major priority for UniCredit Bulbank. The Bank is investing a considerable resource in improving the customer experience delivered via the physical and digital channels. According to the information published in the Annual Report, the sales of UniCredit Bulbank via the Call Center, the online banking and the website have increased by 40%, the number of mobile banking customers has increased by 62% and over 430,000 people are already using online banking. The Branches of the Future have reached the number of 17 throughout the country. Another project with international recognition is the innovative business area International Center through which UniCredit Bulbank supports the process of attracting foreign businesses and investors in Bulgaria. Among the multiple innovations what also deserves attention is the release of the market-first web portal for factoring services in Bulgaria – eFactoring.bg, as well as the new functionality of Bulbank Online for accepting orders from corporate clients and online concluding of deals for trade finance. UniCredit Bulbank is also the first bank in Bulgaria with a private cloud for IT infrastructure, which allows for flexibility when introducing new products, enhances the efficiency and optimizes the IT processes in the bank. In addition, the integrated service platform Bulbank Pay was the winner in the “Corporate Sector” category at the annual contest “IT Project of the Year” by ICT Media and Computerworld newspaper. The bank also received the award for innovations in the financial sector from the E-volution contest for digital business of Forbes Magazine Bulgaria.

The international magazine Global Finance, which is based in New York and has offices around the world, has readers in over 191 countries. Its audience includes senior managers responsible for making investment and strategic decisions of multinational companies and financial institutions. The rankings of Global Finance are considered a standard of excellence in the global financial community.

More information on the awards is available on www.gfmag.com

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

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

Mara Bareva, Phone: +359 2 9264 963, nbsb/cbsfwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Beatris Nikolova, Phone: +359 2 9232 528, cfbusjt/ojlpmpwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch