The bank branch is changing and turning into a place mainly for professional consultations and operations with high added value.

The Branch of the Future steps for the first time in the city of Burgas. UniCredit Bulbank opens the newest innovative branch in the country on 4-6 Peyo Yavorov Str. in the sea city. The Branch of the Future project is one of UniCredit's projects of highest priority in the region of Central and Eastern Europe and Bulgaria was chosen as a pilot country where the first such branch opened doors at the beginning of 2013 in Business Park Sofia. The Branch of the Future was included in a prestigious analysis of Reuters Agency as one of the most innovative ones in the world.

"Our main goal is to make the clients feel special at every step of their visit to the branch – from entering to leaving, and to ensure that they receive banking services at a highest possible level which meet their needs for excellent client experience, innovation and high technology. It has to be noted that the focus of the Branch of the Future is not on the high technologies, but on the servicing. The technologies, wherever necessary, are only the means that ensure faster and quality servicing", Tsvetanka Mincheva, Head of Retail Banking at UniCredit Bulbank and member of the Management Board of the bank, comments.

Among the most famous clients of the first Branch of the Future in Business Park Sofia are the singer Mimi Ivanova and her husband, the composer Razvigor Popov. Being a regular visitor of the branch, here is what Mimi Ivanova shared: "I am happy to be a client of a bank which offers such high-level servicing, a bank which is focused on innovations and which has found a successful model that makes the client feel comfortable. The first time I visited the Branch of the Future I felt as if being at a friend's place."

The latest analyses of UniCredit show that the role of the bank branch is changing. The clients prefer to perform standard bank operations at any time and any place of their convenience, 24 hours a day, through the numerous channels for access offered by the bank – ATMs, self-service zones, online banking, mobile banking, cards, etc. The modern branches are an integral part of these channels, they interact with them through their self-banking zones, the direct channels for access via the Internet and mobile technologies. The branch is becoming a meeting point for the local community and the business, providing consultations and operations with high added value.

Since the opening of the first Branch of the Future about two years ago, the visits to such branches have increased by approximately 60%. Not only has the flow of clients increased, but 93% of the clients of the innovative branch have evaluated it, in an independent survey, as one providing better servicing.

Last year UniCredit was distinguished by the international magazine EMEA Finance as the most innovative bank for the entire CEE region, which strengthens the bank's position as a leader in the field of new technologies.

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

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

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