UniCredit and Bank Austria Creditanstalt, a member of UniCredit Group, are planning an integration of their Bulgarian branches by 2007, Reporter.gr reports.
Within the next weeks, a local office will be set up to work out and coordinate the Bulbank subsidiaries merger.
During the integration process, the banks will continue to operate independently. The result of the merger is the biggest bank in Bulgaria, with assets of more than 3 bln euros and a network of 326 subsidiaries.
The merger is to take place following the 19 blneuros- worth takeover of German HVB by UniCredito, the biggest Italian banking group.
In Romania, the integration of Unicredit Romania with HVB Bank Romania and Banca Tiriac started at the end of 2005 and will finalize in the second half of 2006, giving birth to a banking group with assets valued at a figure close to the Bulgarian group’s, reaching 10 per cent of the market share.
