LOAN TRENDS
The annual percentage rate (APR), used to calculate total costs of contracting and servicing a loan, on Bulgaria's lev-denominated housing loans exceeded the 10 per cent mark in August, an increase of 1.32 percentage points year-on-year, central bank data showed, as reported by dnevnik.bg. APR added 1.81 points to 12.74 per cent on consumer loans and hit 8.83 per cent on euro-denominated housing loans. Interest rates on consumer loans saw the biggest increase, gaining 2.33 percentage points to 11.66 per cent.

ALFA FINANCE
Bulgarian industrial and financial company Alfa Finance Holding and Austria's Hypo Investmentbank AG have signed a long-term co-operation agreement and will seek a regulatory nod to launch a joint bank, majority-owned by the Austrian company. They will roll out joint financial services in Bulgaria, Macedonia and other South Eastern European markets. The new bank, to start off with a capital of 40 million leva in Q2 2009, will focus exclusively on public sector funding, infrastructure and real estate projects, mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate banking.

FIRST INVESTMENT BANK
Fitch Ratings has said that it revised the outlook on First Investment Bank's BB- long-term rating to negative, reflecting the bank's challenges "facing in the current market environment in terms of attracting new long-term funding and capital at an acceptable cost and refinancing its existing obligations in full."

NEWCOMERS
Bulgaria's financial regulator said that it had cleared five new collective investment schemes to enter the market. Asset management company Zlaten Lev Capital will roll out the Zlaten Lev Capital 30 fund, which will invest in shares and issue rights of companies on the BGTR30 index of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, which track companies with a free float of at least 10 per cent. Avrora Capital got approval to launch a risk mutual fund. Avrora Capital - South-East Europe will focus on shares of Southeastern European companies.