Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has approved the acquisition of Economic and Investment Bank (EIBank) by Belgium's KBC Bank, Intellinews said on November 28.

EIBank was Bulgaria's 9th largest Bank. KBC Bank already controlled Bulgaria's insurance group DZI.

CPC concluded that the activities of the two financial institutions did not overlap and were below the 35 per cent threshold for market dominance in the financial sector, Intellinews said.

On November 23, Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) announced it would allow KBC Bank to acquire more than 75 per cent share in EIBank. The KBC Bank share was not allowed, however, to reach 100 per cent, BNB said.

In late September 2007, KBC announced it had acquired a 75 per cent share in EIBank for 295 million euro and it announced plans to buy out shares traded on the local bourse.