DEPOSITS
Household deposits continue to be the biggest resource available to local banks, accounting for 36 per cent of borrowed capital in the banking system, end-July industry balance sheet data from the central bank showed. In July, Bulgarian households added 480 million leva to bring their deposits to 21.3 billion leva at the end of the month. Corporate deposits added 538 million leva in a month to reach 20.5 billion leva. Those two segments increased the size of borrowed funds by a monthly 1.6 per cent.

ALLIED IRISH
Bulgarian-American Enterprise Fund (BAEF) sold 6.31 million shares in Bulgarian American Credit Bank (BACB) for 422.8 million leva on August 29 2008, the Bulgarian bank said in a statement to the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), where it is listed. The Irish banking group paid 216 million euro to buy a stake of 49.99 per cent in an over-the-counter transaction, whose terms were agreed in February. BACB, a small and medium enterprises specialist bank, had assets worth 358 million euro at end-2007, making it the 18th-largest bank by assets in the country, and a net profit of 27 million euro.

INTEREST RATES
Interest rates on loans, which have been rising since autumn 2007, are expected to continue growing, Dnevnik daily reported on August 29. The rates on household loans continued to go up in July in comparison with the year-ago period, central bank data showed, as quoted by the newspaper. The average annual interest rate on consumer loans is now 11.15 per cent, up 1.79 percentage points year-on-year. Mortgage rates have added 0.94 percentage points year-on-year to an average of 9.07 per cent.

SYNDICATED LOAN
International Asset Bank has secured a one-year 14 million euro syndicated loan, Pari daily reported on September 3. Austria’s Reiffeisen Zentralbank was the lead manager of the loan, which was subscribed by seven banks from five countries, the daily said. The bank plans to use the money to fund its growth plans.

GERMAN MERGER
Insurer Allianz has agreed to sell its banking arm Dresdner to Commerzbank AG on September 1. In Bulgaria, the insurer owns Allianz Bank Bulgaria, but the lender is not directly owned by Dresdner and it was not immediately clear whether it would be part of the German deal.