A bank's popularity topped the selection criteria of Bulgarian bank customers in a survey by market research company Market Test in early 2006.

The company, whose survey's results were published in the past week, polled 840 urban users of bank services aged 18-65 with a monthly income of 200 leva a family member.

More than 14 per cent of respondents said the more lustrous and more persistent a bank's image is, the superior its services are considered to be.

This preference favours established players with a broad-reaching office network like DSK Bank, United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) and Bulbank, said the pollsters.

More than 11 per cent of respondents rated as the most important criterion in choosing a bank its customer relations, the guidance it provides in choosing the best financial product and the good disposition of staffers. Smaller banks like Allianz Bulgaria, SG Expressbank and Economic and Investment Bank tested best against this criterion, said the pollsters.

According to the survey, the smaller structures more easily adapt to the changing profile of the typical consumer in Bulgaria and manage to offer individual service.

Customer relations and product quality is fast catching up with corporate image as the top attractive feature, said the pollsters.

Around 11 per cent of respondents rated charges and fees as most decisive in their choice of a bank.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian banking market is getting increasingly differentiated, with a few outstanding players and a lot of smaller ones.

Statistical figures provided by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) show that 63 per cent of all assets of the financial and crediting system are controlled by seven banking institutions whose assets exceed two billion leva. They are DSK Bank, Bulbank, UBB, Raiffeisen Bank Bulgaria (RBB), HVB Bank Biochim, First Investment Bank and Postbank. The total amount of their assets is 22.6 billion leva, whereas the amount of assets of all banks operating in Bulgaria is about 36 billion leva.

The seven largest banks manage 55 per cent of all loans extended as well as 62 per cent of all deposits of individuals and companies.

There are several other banks that are growing fast - EI Bank, Societe Generale Expressbank, DZI Bank, Hebrosbank, Central Co-operative Bank and Allianz Bulgaria Bank. The union of Piraeus Eurobank Bulgaria and the Bulgarian branch of its owner, the Greek Piraeus Bank, resulted in the creation of a new big crediting institution whose assets amount to 1.4 billion leva as of June 30 2006.

In fact, the merger of the two showed how two insignificant players in the Bulgarian financial sector could establish an institution that is a market factor which everybody should take into account from now on. Nevertheless, Piraeus Eurobank Bulgaria will hardly manage to catch up with the seven biggest institutions in the country in the next one or two years.