Annual ranking of the biggest companies in Southeast Europe
MFG’s three key objectives are efficiency at all levels of the business flow, investment in information technology, adoption of digital and advanced analytics. In other words, we plan to use the downturns as an opportunity to further expand our business – to develop our major markets and step in the largest ones, like India and the US.
The geopolitical tensions do not affect Banca Transilavania’s operations, considering that we are not present on the neighbouring market and that the Romanian banking system is not directly exposed to risks associated with the conflict in Ukraine. Of course, there is an impact when it comes to payables and receivables with the Russian Federation, as we must respect EU regulations pertaining to international sanctions but we try to responsibly manage the situation in such a way so that the effect on our customers is minimal. As for risk costs, they will increase, but not necessarily as a direct result of the situation in Ukraine, as there are cumulative recession signals coming from the U.S. and the Euro zone. In line with the requirements of the European Central Bank, credit risk management is a priority for us, together with the governance and the solidity of our business model.
As the market is really dynamic and moving faster than ever before in most of the industries, we at UniCredit Bulbank are dedicated to the constant improvement of the internal processes resulting in the enhancement and speed up of the services to the customers. This is a constant endeavour and it entails relevant investments and focus on a few aspects – the digitalisation, internal simplification of processes and growth of our most important asset – our people.
When MFG group was founded in 2015 it included two business lines – home collected lending and alternative channels. Since then, the group grew a lot. If we consider only the credit cards, back in 2016 we had operations only in Bulgaria and only with the brand Biala Karta. Now we have successful businesses also in Romania, Poland and Spain. And we set up our business in the US, having an office in San Francisco. Also, in Bulgaria we added new card products such as Biala Karta Gold and A1 card. And we grew our
customer base from 40,000 to over 200,000 cardholders.
The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have created global disruptions that need to be tackled simultaneously. A COVID-19 recovery without parallel success from climate action in limiting global temperature rises to below 2ºC will be pointless in the long run. A green recovery that is mindful of our need to prevent an environmental catastrophe is the only meaningful way forward. This will require the transformation of our lives and business practices, as the global economy will need to shift to a circular and sustainable model. This will be the most effective way to mitigate the impact of these two calamities and increase the economy’s resilience.
Being a responsible leader in the corporate banking in Bulgaria, we strengthened further our focus on taking the digital banking services to the next level. Companies can take advantage of our e-solutions in the digital channels as well as in Bulbank Online and Bulbank Mobile. We have been developing and popularising further the Module for Online Securities Trading in Bulbank Online, which gives the individual clients opportunities to place orders and keep track of the securities and transactions from their personal wallet. Furthermore, we are proud with our Trade Finance Module in Bulbank Online which accepts easily corporate clients’ orders and all trade finance deals can be administrated completely online. The newest service developed by UniCredit Bulbank is the e-signing of documents – now legal entities have the opportunity to digitally sign (approve and send documents using QES* or the mobile app Evrotrust). For us it is important that Evrotrust, in their start-up phase, entrusted UniCredit in Bulgaria to support and help them grow. This is another proof of the important interdependence between fintech and financial institutions. This way we simplify and accelerate the process being more operationally effective paperless and maintaining a better traceability and archive of the documents. Easy, secure and time-saving.
MAIB is the largest bank in Moldova, accounting for around 30% of the country’s banking assets and around 35% of loans. MAIB provides 24.6% of all mortgage loans extended to Moldovans. MAIB booked an average 11.4% asset growth, 11.7% deposit growth and 8.9% profit growth in the last five years. The bank serves over 20% of Moldova’s population and is among the largest employers in the country. The bank is widely recognised for its customer service and product innovation.
By Nevena Krasteva Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Regional Director Western Balkans Does the EBRD plan to increase its engagement in the Western Balkans in 2020 and 2021 in response to the coronavirus crisis and what priority areas will the bank support? ...
Darin Peshev,Director Private BankingUniCredit Bulbank Darin Peshev is a financial professional with more than 13 years of banking experience in Bulgaria and SEE. He started his career in the field of FX, IR and commodity markets after obtaining a mas ...
By Klaudjo Jonuzaj Artan Gjergji Albanian Securities Exchange CEO The private Albanian Securities Exchange (ALSE) was founded by Tirana-headquartered Credins Bank and American Bank of Investment (ABI Bank) with 42.5% shareholding interest each and ...
By Nicoleta Banila Adrian Tanase CEO the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB In the beginning of 2018 Romania's financial regulator ASF approved Adrian Tanase's appointment as CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB, for a four-year term. BVB is the big ...
Serghei Cebotari, Chairman of the Management Board, Moldova Agroindbank Moldova Agroindbank, also known as MAIB, is the leading systemic bank in Moldova, an Eastern European country sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. The bank holds a ma ...
Moldova Agroindbank has been recently conferred the title Best Social Impact Bank – Moldova 2017 by the London-based publication Capital Finance International (CFI). According to the CFI assessment committee, “Moldova Agroindbank conducts its business in ...
Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), a member of Erste Group since 2006, is Romania’s largest financial group. Besides universal banking operations, including retail, corporate and investment banking, treasury and capital markets, the group also provides leasing and asset management services, among others. BCR’s network includes more than 560 retail units, over 2,100 ATMs and 13,500 POS terminals.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) raised its investments in Southeast Europe, a region that has remained particularly vulnerable to the effects of problems in the eurozone, to around 1.65 billion euro in 2013 from 1.5 billion euro in 2012. In 2013, EBRD investments remained strong in Turkey, totalling around 920 million euro. In the Western Balkans and Croatia, the EBRD invested a record 1.2 billion euro in more than 80 projects in 2013.
First Investment Bank (Fibank) aspires to continue to be one of the best banks in Bulgaria, recognised as a rapidly growing, innovative, customer-oriented bank, offering outstanding products and services to its customers, ensuring excellent careers for its employees, and contributing to the community.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Its headquarters are in Thessaloniki, in Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The bank’s authorised capital is 3.45 billion euro. BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by Standard and Poor’s and “A2” by Moody’s.
Before being appointed BCR CEO, Bruynseels served as Senior Executive Director of Barclays’ Emerging Markets Division in Dubai. He has served the prestigious Barclays Bank for 27 years – over this period he gained an extensive professional experience following a variety of UK-based branch, regional and head office roles as well as international positions. Asked what is the business principle that he would never make a compromise with, Bruynseels answered: “Selling someone something I know they don’t need”
Hypo Alpe Adria was founded in Klagenfurt, Austria, in 1896. As at December 31, 2010 the group was present in 12 countries – Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Germany, Hungary and the Ukraine. The Republic of Austria became the sole owner of Hypo Alpe Adria in December 2009 and the ownership structure remained unchanged in 2010.