Bulbank is one of the biggest banks of Bulgaria. Currently it is owned by UniCredit Group.

History

1964 Bulbank, 100% state owned, was founded as the then Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank (BFTB) with head office in Sofia, paid-up capital of BGL 40 million and statutory specialization in foreign trade payments and finance.

1969–1985 Representative offices of the Bank in London, Frankfurt and Vienna were opened.

1987 Bayerisch-Bulgarische Handelsbank GmbH was founded as a joint bank by Bayerische Vereinsbank and BFTB with head office in Munich. In 1998 the bank was reregistered as HypoVereinsbank Bulgaria GmbH.

1988 Bulgarsovinvest was founded as a joint-stock financial company by BFTB and Vnesheconombank. In 1994 Bulgarsovinvest was reincorporated as Corporate Commercial Bank AD.

1991 The Bank Consolidation Company (BCC) was founded as a holding company to consolidate the state ownership in the banking sector and to facilitate the privatisation of banks. BCC held 98% of Bulbank's share capital. - Bulbank was the first Bulgarian bank to move to SWIFT whereby it significantly strengthened its operational performance and enhanced the reliability of its transactions.

1992 The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders approved of the new Statutes of the Bank, which laid down the legal foundation for the bank to develop as a universal commercial bank pursuant to the provisions of the Commercial Law and the Banks and Lending Act. - The bank's capital was raised from BGL 320 million to BGL 1.2 billion fully paid-up and divided into 1.2 million shares of BGL 1,000 face value each. - The bank moved to its new premises, furnished with all required facilities that allow for considerably improved banking services quality.

1993 The Bank started building domestic branch-network by opening branches in Plovdiv and Kardzhali.

1994 The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders passed a resolution for changing the name of BFTB to Bulbank (Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank) AD. Bulbank's branch network expanded through the opening of the regional Bourgas Commercial Bank and Stara Zagora Commercial Bank.

1995 The share capital of the bank was raised to BGL 5,041,520,000

1997 The share capital of the bank was raised threefold and was divided into 15,124,560 ordinary shares of BGL 1,000 face value each.

1998- Procedure for privatisation of Bulbank was opened. - The share capital of the bank was raised eleven fold; it was divided into 166,370,160 ordinary shares of BGL 1,000 face value each. - Bulbank diversified its electronic international card payment system by co-branding with Visa International and Europay International.

2000 Bulbank?s privatisation was completed on 2 October with the transfer of the Bank Consolidation Company's shares to UniCredito Italiano S.p.A and Allianz AG, which acquired 93% and 5% of Bulbank's share capital, respectively. - Bulbank sold its participations in Corporate Commercial Bank (99,9%), as well as that in United Bulgarian Bank (35%) and in HypoVereinsbank Bulgaria (49%). - The Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders, held on October 3, approved of new Statutes of the Bank introducing a two-tier corporate management system of a Supervisory Board and Management Board.

2001 Bulbank embarked on a process of deep redesign of its business model seeking to become more open to its customers and to improve its efficiency and financial performance. - Accordingly with the set objectives and tasks, a new organizational structure was introduced. - Bulbank's major shareholder UniCredito sold minor stakes to the Italian SIMEST S.p.A., Rome, and the International Finance Corporation - 2,5% and 5,3% of the share capital respectively.