Postbank ( Bulgarian: Пощенска Банка, Poshtenska Banka), legally known as Eurobank Bulgaria AD (former legal name Eurobank EFG Bulgaria AD, date of change 11/1/2013), is a

universal bank A universal bank participates in many kinds of banking activities and is both a commercial bank and an investment bank as well as providing other financial services such as insurance.Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

History

Bulgarian Postbank was founded on April 2, 1991 as the

postal savings system Postal savings systems provide depositors who do not have access to banks a safe and convenient method to save money. Many nations have operated banking systems involving post offices to promote saving money among the poor. History In 1861, G ...

of Bulgarian Posts. In the years that followed, the bank experienced substantial growth and expansion. It is one of the few Bulgarian banks that managed to survive the

banking crisis A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may cease to function in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks no ...

in Bulgaria in 1996–1997. On November 9, 1998, 78.23% of Postbank's capital was acquired by ALICO/CEH Balkan Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of

Eurobank Ergasias The Eurobank Group is a financial organisation that operates in Greece, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Serbia, Bulgaria and UK. As of December 2018, the Eurobank Group counts, in assets, 653 customer service locations in Greece and abroad, and 13,162 emp ...

. In the following years,

control grew to more than 90% of Postbank's equity capital. On December 21, 2006, Eurobank EFG acquired majority ownership of the Bulgarian DZI Bank, which was merged into Postbank in the third quarter of 2007 with the operational merger completing by the end of the year. On August 29, 2011,

and Alpha Bank announced that they have reached agreement on a merger. Alpha Bank has presence in Bulgaria since 1995 with its Sofia Branch having more than 120 offices around the country. The Alpha Bank Branch was expected to merge into Postbank operationally in 2012, but in January 2012, the merger was suspended until

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...

writedowns, required of Greek banks as part of the EU/

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

third rescue package to resolve the

Greek government debt crisis Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, are finalized. The merger went through on 17 July 2015. Following its merger with DZI Bank in 2007, the bank changed its legal name to "Eurobank Bulgaria AD", but continued

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

the Bulgarian Postbank. In March 2016, Postbank acquired the Bulgarian operations of the Greek Alpha Bank, becoming the fourth-largest bank in Bulgaria in terms of loans and deposits. In July 2018, Eurobank acquired

Piraeus Bank Piraeus Bank ( el, Τράπεζα Πειραιώς) is a Greek multinational financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. Piraeus Bank's shares have been listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) since January 1918. In Gr ...

Bulgaria, placing Postbank among the three largest lenders of the country.

Description

Postbank is the third largest depository institution in the country, as well as the second largest mortgage lender, and the largest

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

issuer. The bank commands a market share of nearly 10%, a workforce of 3,000 employees and with over 200 locations has one of the most extensive branch networks in the country. Postbank is a member of

Group. Total assets of the bank reached BGN 5,637 billion as of 31 December 2012. In June 2012 the bank retained its long-term

credit rating A credit rating is an evaluation of the credit risk of a prospective debtor (an individual, a business, company or a government), predicting their ability to pay back the debt, and an implicit forecast of the likelihood of the debtor defaulting. ...

of BBB and a short-term rating of A-2 with a stable outlook from the Bulgarian Credit Rating Agency (BCRA). Postbank is an autonomous Bulgarian bank and is fully self-funded via the local and international market. Apart from its significant deposit base, for purposes of small business and medium-sized loan financing, Postbank can draw on institutional credit lines from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the

Bulgarian Development Bank Bulgarian Development Bank ( bg, Българска банка за развитие, ) (BDB) is a leading Bulgarian development and commercial bank with headquarters in Sofia. It is one of the largest development institutions in Southeast Europe t ...

, and the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member of ...

(IFC).

Products and Services

Postbank provides

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

corporate banking Wholesale banking is the provision of services by banks to larger customers or organizations such as mortgage brokers, large corporate clients, mid-sized companies, real estate developers and investors, international trade finance businesses, ...

and investment banking services in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. The bank offers services to its local and international customers. In regards to the retail banking products, the bank traditionally holds strong positions in

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

lending,

consumer lending Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt ...

and cards, and deposit products.

Share Capital Structure

, the total authorized number of

ordinary shares Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Comm ...

of Eurobank Bulgaria AD was 560,323,000 with a

nominal value In economics, nominal value is measured in terms of money, whereas real value is measured against goods or services. A real value is one which has been adjusted for inflation, enabling comparison of quantities as if the prices of goods had not c ...

of BGN 1 per share. *

S.A.,

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

- 99.99%

Key people

In April 2011, Postbank introduced a tiered board structure, which included a Management Board and a

Supervisory Board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil s ...

Management Board

* Petia Dimitrova - Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer ( CEO) * Dimitar Shoumarov - Chief Financial Director and Executive Director * Iordan Souvandjiev - Chief Risk Officer

Supervisory Board

* Theodoros Karakasis - Chairman of the Board * Stavros Ioannou - Deputy Chairman of the Board * Evangelos Kavvalos - Member * Nikolaos Aliprantis - Member * Christos Adam - Member

Procurator

* Milena Vaneva

New Head Office

The new head office, with total area of 12,500 m2, was inaugurated in June 2012.

Subsidiaries

As of July 2017, the

affiliates In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or ...

of Postbank which operate on the Bulgarian market include: * ERB Leasing EAD (former name EFG Leasing EAD, date of change 01/2/2013) - leasing company * ERB Property Services Sofia AD (former name EFG Property Services Sofia AD, date of change 25/3/2013) - a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

operation, property valuation, and

property management Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...

company * IMO Property Investment Sofia EAD - a

operation and investment development company * IMO Central Office EAD - - a

operation company

Key figures

* Clients: Over 1.5 million * Client deposits: €2.15 billion (end 2012) * Client loans: €2 billion (end 2012) * Branches: 200 (Q2 2015) Postbank official website
/ref>

References

External links

* *
Bulgarian National Bank
*
Financial Supervision Commission
{{Europe topic, List of companies of Cooperative banks of Bulgaria Investment banking Banks established in 1991 Bulgarian companies established in 1991 Postal savings system Philately of Bulgaria