United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) announced on March 14 the launch of its call centre, designed to serve as an alternative channel of information for customers.

The bank's idea is to be able to immediately respond to any need of its existing or potential customers to learn about products and services.

Another part of the service is secure access to services related to debit and credit cards, including information on transactions, restoring PINs, unlocking cards and others.

The call centre, answering at 0700 117 17, offers bilingual service (Bulgarian and English) and currently operates 12 hours on the working days - from 9 am to 9 pm, and nine hours on Saturdays - from 9 am to 6 pm. According to Elena Nassalevska, manager of the call centre, the service will become round-the-clock by the end of 2006.

The telephone number and the operators behind it also offer information on the IBAN (International Bank Account Number), which will become effective in Bulgaria for each bank account from June 5 this year.

New services expected to be introduced at UBB's call centre in 2006 include the use of PINs to access different kinds of information and the possibility to make transactions via telephone, which will come after the PIN implementation.

UBB, a member of Greece's NBG Group, is Bulgaria's third-largest bank in terms of assets. In 2005, its balance sheet value rose from 2.2 billion leva to 3.18 billion leva. The bank's profit for last year also increased, reaching 93.86 million leva, or almost 25 million leva up from 2004.

In late February, UBB said it would team up with Ethniki Greek General Insurance and AIG for the launch of two insurance companies. The life insurance company and a general insurance company will sell their products through the UBB branch network in Bulgaria.

Since the beginning of 2006, UBB has also launched two mutual funds, UBB Platinum Bonds and UBB Premium Shares, which are traded on the unofficial segment of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Sofia.