The international rating agency Fitch Ratings affirms the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) at 'A-' with a positive outlook.

As early as in 2017, UBB's rating was increased to the highest level for a financial institution in Bulgaria, and each subsequent rating evidenced the positive assessment of the long-term development prospects for KBC Group's business in Bulgaria.

The ratings, indicated by the Fitch agency, clearly show that the agreement to acquire Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) will significantly strengthen the market position of KBC Group on the Bulgarian banking market. The future united company will achieve a market share of approximately 20% of the assets in the Bulgarian banking sector, as compared to about 12% to date.

UBB's credit quality has been steadily improving under KBC's supervision and this trend is expected to continue in the short term. As a result, UBB's asset quality rating was upgraded to 'bb-' from 'b+'.

"The strong credit rating of UBB, which is 2 notches higher than that of Bulgaria as a country, once again confirms that UBB is consistently a reference on the Bulgarian market in terms of financial strength and stability” said Peter Roebben, Country Manager of KBC Group in Bulgaria and CEO of UBB.

There is a detailed description of UBB's ratings, confirmed by Fitch, on the agency's website here.