POSTBANK AND DZI
Postbank and DZI Bank launched their first joint product on the Bulgarian market in the form of a housing loan, Bulgarian-language daily Pari reported on March 13. This is the first time that Postbank and DZI Bank have offered equal conditions on a service after it emerged that the two banks will merge at the end of 2007. The monthly installment during the first year of the repayment period will be 12.5 leva for every 10 000 leva borrowed as part of the loan. There is a 50 per cent discount on standard fees and commissions and there will be no principal payments during the first year of the repayment period. The special offer is valid for applications submitted before May 31 2007.

PROCREDIT BANK
ProCredit Banks across Eastern Europe cut the ribbon to their own education centre in Skopje, Macedonia, Bulgarian-language weekly Kapital reported. The new facility is designed to provide professional training to middle-level managers from all ProCredit bank teams in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. In its opening year, the new ProCredit Bank academy is scheduled to launch tuition for 100 people, and plans are for this to increase to 400 a year.

FIRST INVESTMENT BANK
The number of cards issued by Bulgaria’s First Investment Bank has increased more than tenfold in the past month, Pari reported. The rise is mainly due to the bigger number of debit cards, which allow holders to donate 0.10 leva to the Bulgarian Red Cross each time they draw cash from ATMs. The same increase has been registered by Allianz Bulgaria in relation to VISA and MasterCard. According to the financial institution, this was the result of a special promotion on credit cards for women.

UNITED BULGARIAN BANK
United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) has extended the maximum amount of its mortgage loan products up to 500 000 leva and 250 000 euro, and has extended refunding terms to 30 years, Focus news agency said on March 13. Before now, UBB offered 300 000 leva or 150 000 euro for 25 years at the most.
 
INVESTBANK
Bulgaria’s Investbank posted a 66 per cent year-on-year increase in assets to 530 million leva in 2006, rising three places to the position of Bulgaria’s 19th largest lender, Bulgarian daily Dnevnik reported. Earnings doubled year-on-year to two million leva.
The end-2006 credit portfolio of the bank was 187.8 million leva or just more than 35 per cent of the assets, according to Bulgarian National Bank data. The bank lent 135 million leva in commercial loans and 40 million leva to retail customers, including 24 million leva in mortgages. The deposit base was reported at 418 million leva, including 362 million leva in corporate and retail deposits. Investbank, which operates a nationwide network of more than 100 branches and offices, was mulling a listing on the local stock exchange in response to its own solid development and to that of the Bulgarian capital market. No timeframe had been specified for the bourse listing, Dnevnik said.