• Over 95% of money transfers at UniCredit Bulbank are made through a digital channel
• Over 60% of customers actively use Bulbank Mobile Banking
• One in seven consumer loans is requested and utilized entirely digitally

According to the latest data of UniCredit Bulbank, over 600 000 customers of the financial organization actively use the mobile banking of the bank - Bulbank Mobile - for making transfers, managing products and requesting new ones. In the interest of customer satisfaction, the bank's team develops and offers more and more digital solutions, and their efforts were awarded the Best Ongoing Digital Project at the annual awards of the Bank of the Year Association. The recognition is for the Digital Mortgage project, which the bank implemented in 2022.

The digital mortgage allows a fully remote process of requesting, consulting, granting and utilizing a mortgage loan, including digital signing of all necessary documents. UniCredit Bulbank is the only financial institution in Bulgaria that offers a fully digital conclusion of a mortgage loan without the need for a physical visit to a branch of the bank at any step of the process.

"The main goal of UniCredit Bulbank is to offer integrated digital solutions that not only facilitate users but also significantly improve the way they interact with the financial institution. We strongly believe that the future is in digital banking but without losing the human contact with the customer. Consumer behavior trends indicate that more and more people prefer fully digital processes for some financial transactions because they are faster and do not require a visit to a branch. In the case of financial solutions, consulting an expert has significant added value. For them, UniCredit Bulbank offers various points of contact - a call center, a remote service manager, a visit to a branch, whereby the customer has complete freedom to choose the way he/she prefers," commented Borislav Genov, Head of Retail Banking and Member of the Management Board of UniCredit Bulbank.

Another indicator confirming the tendency for customers to increasingly prefer the digital model of service in the financial sector is that over 95% of bank transfers in UniCredit Bulbank are ordered through an electronic channel. As of the end of the first half of 2023, UniCredit Bulbank is the leader in Blink instant payments, holding over 45% market share, according to statistics of BORICA.

 "With the announcement of the possibility for making instant payments through the electronic banking channels, UniCredit Bulbank enables its customers to make instant payments to other banks and payment service providers in Bulgaria. This means that the transfer is processed within 10 seconds, rather than within a few hours as it was the case until recently. Our position of the financial institution with the largest market share in the field of instant payments also indicates clearly that this is the direction for the development of the bank and this is what customers seek, need and require from us", says Victor Stoyanov, Head of Alternative Channels at UniCredit Bulbank.

As of the end of the first half of 2023, over 15% of all sales of financial products in UniCredit Bulbank were made entirely remotely, without the customer having to visit a bank office during any phase of the product acquisition process. There is an increase in demand for digital purchase in the following main core businesses: consumer loans, whereby one in seven consumer loans is requested and utilized entirely digitally, a daily banking plan, a credit card, a term deposit and insurance products.

The accelerating trend towards digital technologies in the banking sector is confirmed by the growing number of customers switching to digital services to pay for daily purchases with a bank card.

In early 2023, UniCredit Bulbank expanded its portfolio of digital wallets. Now three options are available - Google Pay for customers with Android smartphones, Apple Pay for iOS devices and UniCredit Bulbank's own digital wallet, which allows customers with Huawei devices without Google Services to benefit from the possibility to initiate contactless card payments with a smartphone.

The annual growth by the end of the first half of 2023 in payments with a digitalized card in UniCredit Bulbank is 215%.

The bank's expectations are that the interest of customers in digital possibilities, providing an easy, secure and fast way for complete banking services from anywhere in the world, will increase.

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Additional media information:

Ekaterina Ancheva, tel +359 894 518 193 , flbufsjob/bodifwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Darina Radoslavova, tel +359 887 505273, Ebsjob/SbeptmbwpwbAVojDsfejuHspvq/CH