Group level
Best bank: UniCredit Bulbank
UniCredit Bulbank delivered a strong performance in 2025, supported by increased investment in digital capabilities and improvements to the customer journey.
The bank saw significant financial growth, with retail loans increasing by 28% to €5.5 billion in 2025 and retail deposits rising by 21% to €8.2 billion, supporting a 17.5% increase in total assets and net profit of BGN903 million ($527 million). This growth was driven by continued lending momentum, including a 25% increase in retail lending and 32% growth in mortgages.
Digitalisation remained central to both growth and customer outcomes, with mobile active users growing by approximately 10% to exceed 800,000, equivalent to roughly 75% of the customer base. This scale supported a 40% increase in mobile payment volumes, while more than 98% of transactions were executed digitally.
The full redesign of the Bulbank Mobile app, rolled out from early 2025, improved navigation and usability, contributing to over 1.5 million payments per month and transaction values exceeding BGN1 billion.
The launch of fully remote onboarding for voluntary pension funds and embedded insurance reduced processing times to under two minutes and eliminated paper documentation, increasing accessibility while lowering servicing costs. At the same time, buy-now-pay-later functionality for debit card transactions and enhanced card controls strengthened day-to-day liquidity management for retail clients.
Process automation further improved service delivery. Mobile-based customer identification shortened contact centre verification times by around one minute per call, while the introduction of an AI-driven digital assistant reduced waiting times by handling routine enquiries at scale. The launch of a virtual mortgage centre enabled near end-to-end remote processing with video consultation, reducing turnaround times and removing the need for multiple branch visits.
Best digital bank: United Bulgarian Bank
Sustained growth in digital adoption in 2025, alongside frequent releases and expanding AI interactions, drove higher engagement, sales and operational efficiency at United Bulgarian Bank.
The bank increased digital monthly active users to 787,000 at the end of 2025, up 7% from the previous year, while the share of sales completed digitally rose from 47% to 58%, linking higher usage directly to revenue generation through digital channels.
Activation of its mobile app exceeded one million users, up by 12% since 2024, with more than 70% active each month, reflecting improved onboarding journeys and consistent engagement after account opening.
Product development accelerated through nine mobile releases delivering 15 new features in 2025, including SEPA Instant payments, which enable transfers within 10 seconds, and integrated services such as parking and municipal tax payments.
The bank also scaled its use of artificial intelligence through its digital assistant Kate, which recorded more than five million client interactions in 2025, a 37% increase year-on-year. Improved automation allowed the assistant to resolve 75% of queries independently, reducing reliance on branches and contact centres while supporting a 29% conversion rate on proactive offers. These capabilities contributed to 38% of newly generated business originating from digital leads, demonstrating a measurable shift in distribution.
In corporate banking, integration of the Digital Portal enabled 32% of new current accounts and 38% of term deposits for corporate clients to be opened digitally, while automation reduced credit approval times by 20%.
Best bank for ESG: United Bulgarian Bank
United Bulgarian Bank’s significantly expanded its ESG proposition in 2025, supported by the rollout of targeted sustainability products and the delivery of measurable decarbonisation outcomes across priority sectors.
The bank increased its ESG finance targets by 14% to €232 million by the end of 2025, supporting a broader pipeline of sustainable lending and investment activity. The number of CSR beneficiaries rose threefold year-on-year to 22,500, while CSR investment increased to €383,000.
New and enhanced products strengthened the bank’s environmental impact. Renewable energy financing reached €346.5 million in new volumes in 2025, driven by increased lending to solar and wind projects and supporting the shift towards renewable energy.
SME-focused photovoltaic lending added 103 projects and €45 million, expanding decentralised generation capacity. In retail banking, energy-efficient mortgage lending reached €132.7 million, reflecting rising demand for certified low-consumption housing.
The bank complemented financing growth with digital ESG tools and advisory capabilities. Its agro-carbon calculator generated 3,100 calculations and 1,800 detailed emissions reports in 2025, enabling more than 100 corporate clients to measure and manage their carbon output. This supported sector-level outcomes, including a 78% reduction in emissions intensity in the energy portfolio relative to baseline, driven by increased exposure to renewable assets.
The introduction of new guarantee structures strengthened access to sustainable finance, including a €335 million InvestEU-backed portfolio and a circular economy guarantee combining lending with grant funding, extending financing to projects in waste management, resource efficiency and clean air investment.
Best retail bank: DSK Bank
An accelerated shift towards mobile-led banking, combined with targeted product redesign across key segments, set DSK Bank’s retail performance apart in 2025.
Retail deposits and lending each grew by around 21%, reaching BGN27.9 billion ($16.3 billion) and BGN17.1 billion respectively, supported by strong demand in housing finance and continued momentum in new loan origination. Retail revenue rose by 19% to BGN767 million, while customer engagement deepened, with average products per customer increasing to 2.9 and payroll account volumes continuing to edge higher.
Digital transformation accelerated following the full rollout of DSK Mobile, which expanded from a limited pilot base to more than 500,000 users within a few of months, contributing to a digitally active customer base exceeding one million.
Nearly two thirds of new-to-bank customers were onboarded fully digitally, with the mobile app serving as the primary entry point. Customer behaviour shifted accordingly, with digital transactions doubling over a three-month period and mobile usage averaging more than 21 logins per user each month.
Product development focused on simplification and segmentation. Daily banking plans recorded close to 684,000 activations, tripling year-on-year, with high levels of active usage. Cash lending was restructured into a fully digital, paperless journey, with more than half of loan sales completed end-to-end digitally and over 173,000 loans disbursed during the year.
Further enhancements included the launch of a generative AI assistant supporting more than 130,000 users, while mobile payments continued to gain traction, with tokenised transactions reaching 62 million.
Best bank for SMEs: UniCredit Bulbank
UniCredit Bulbank’s combination of accelerated digital adoption and product innovation improved access to payments, data and remote banking for SMEs in Bulgaria in 2025.
The bank supported a shift to digital channels, with more than 95% of corporate clients active on Bulbank Online and 98% of company payments executed digitally, reducing processing times and lowering operating costs for SMEs.
Investment focused on practical tools that address barriers to digitalisation. The launch of the Pay by Link service allows SMEs to accept card payments without building full e-commerce infrastructure, enabling faster onboarding into digital sales channels and contributing to improved conversion rates.
Integration with the Sellavi platform added order management and real-time payment tracking, strengthening cashflow visibility and operational control for smaller merchants.
Enhancements to Bulbank Online repositioned it as a broader business platform. New analytical tools, including peer-to-peer comparative analysis based on anonymised transaction data, enables SMEs to benchmark performance and adjust pricing or inventory decisions, supporting revenue optimisation.
At the same time, the introduction of self-service administration through the Master Control function reduced reliance on bank intermediaries by allowing businesses to manage users, permissions and accounts directly.
The bank continued to develop its remote service model, giving SME clients access to dedicated relationship managers without branch visits, with the impact of these developments reflected in a strong customer satisfaction score of 4.7 in 2025.
Best bank for large corporates: United Bulgarian Bank
Strong lending growth, coupled with accelerated digital investment, underpinned United Bulgarian Bank’s success in serving large corporates in 2025.
The bank increased its large corporate loan book to €3.9 billion at year-end 2025, up by 18% from the previous year, supported by €1.7 billion in new lending and a 15% expansion in the portfolio. This was accompanied by a rise in average loan size from €4 million to €11 million, reflecting a higher share of complex and capital-intensive transactions.
Investment in technology was a central driver of these outcomes, with the proportion of group technology spend allocated to corporate banking rising from 16% to 40% year-on-year. This supported a series of platform enhancements, including the rollout of SEPA Instant payments, enabling transfers within 10 seconds, and the integration of online banking with a digital portal, which resulted in 38% of term deposits for corporates being opened digitally, while process automation reduced time to credit approval by 20%.
Product development focused on expanding access to structured and sustainable financing. New guarantee programmes included a €335 million InvestEU initiative and a circular economy facility exceeding €314 million, enabling preferential lending terms and blended finance structures, such as loan-plus-grant solutions.
These capabilities were reflected in transaction activity, which included a €250 million multi-country renewables financing and energy infrastructure deals of over €100 million, supporting regional energy security and transition projects.
