UniCredit may roll out women-oriented branches
across its network in central and Eastern Europe.
Unicredit has launched its first branch
specifically serving female clients from all financial segments in
Bulgaria through its subsidiary Bulbank in March.
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But the deputy head of retail banking,
Tsvetanka Mincheva, told
RBI in an interview that the branch will serve as a pilot
project for a potential group-wide roll out.
The pilot phase will run
for between six months to one year.
Bulbank, the biggest bank in the country with
a 15.3% market share, has fine-tuned its strategy as the war
for customer deposits among banks in Bulgaria continues.
Bulbank also launched a women-specific product range on World Women’s
Day, which it distributes throughout its whole branch network
in Bulgaria.
Mincheva told RBI that competing with
local rivals who offer interest rates as high as eight percent
posed a challenge to the bank, who has to stay in line with the
UniCredit group pricing policy.
But Bulbank circumvent the challenges with the
introduction of a deposit campaign initiated
by its new director of retail banking, Pasquale Dzhamboi.
Bulbank is
offering customers an interest rate bonus if they increase
their total deposit balance by at least 30%.
Dzhamboi said that the deposit campaign was an
initiative to attract new customers.
The full interview with Mincheva will be
published in the next issue of RBI.
