ALL IN THE FAMILY
Half of Bulgarians preferred borrowing money from relatives to taking bank loans, according to market researcher GfK Bulgaria, Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily said. Despite frenetic lending in the past couple of months, just 28 per cent of Bulgarians would go directly to a bank if they needed money, the survey said. A total of 28 per cent of Bulgarians will borrow money from friends. Bulgarians were reluctant to take out bank loans for two major reasons. They believe they can manage without loans and they do not like to be indebted, said Antonia Gigova of the GfK research unit.
EXPANDING TO THE WEST
Bulgarian industrial and financial group Alfa Financing Holding acquired a 98 per cent stake in the Skopje-based International Private Bank (IPB), Macedonian news agency Makfax said. The value of the deal was eight million euro. IPB was established in 1996. Since then it has targeted mainly individuals and small businesses in Macedonia.
SOME RATES UP
MKB Unionbank raised the interest rate of its six-month and one-year deposits for companies and individuals by up to 1.5 percentage points. The one-year deposit in leva was increased by up to five per cent rate. The euro-denominated one reached a top rate of 3.75 per cent. MKB Unionbank is majority-owned by Hungarian MKB Bank.
SOME RATES DOWN
Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria has lowered its initial interest rate for small company loans to 5.5 per cent. The act refers to loans made in euro provided until the end of the year. The preferential interest is charged in the first six months of the loan, the rate for the remainder of the term is about 8.5 per cent, depending on the collateral. Meanwhile the bank increased its capital by 136.9 million leva reaching a capital base of 594.5 million leva. As of June 30, the total assets of Raiffeisenbank reached 4.620 million leva. The loan portfolio reached 2.6 billion leva. By the end of June total deposits reached 2.7 billion leva. On June 30, the bank’s after-tax profit reached 43.40 million leva, up 30 per cent from the same period of 2006.
NET PROFIT FALL
Economic and Investment Bank (EIBank) reported a 15.9 per cent fall in net profit for the first nine months of the year, SeeNews agency said. The fall came to 22.6 million leva compared with a year earlier. In September, Belgian banking and insurance group KBC bought 75 per cent in EIBank for 295 million euro.
NEW SUBSIDIARY
DSK Bank established a subsidiary to assist companies and municipalities in the process of using money from the EU funds, the bank said. DSK Bank and its subsidiary will provide consultations and participate actively in the drafting of documents, lending and management of projects of its current and potential clients.
