The Belgian financial group KBC announced its setting up a Competence Centre in Varna and opening more than 300 new jobs in the seaside capital in the coming years. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov officially opened the local KBC Bulgaria Branch, planned to start operating at the end of the year in a reconstructed building of the former Pfohe Mall Varna complex on an area of 5500 square metres.

KBC Group has been steadily present on the Bulgarian market for more than a decade, holding leadership positions in the Bulgarian financial sector with its companies United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) and DZI. For several months now the new company KBC Bulgaria Branch has been operating in Sofia and already numbers 100 mainly IT-profiled employees.

The Chief Executive Officer of KBC - Johan Thijs - arrived in Varna especially for the opening and commented on the group's new strategic decision: “KBC has 6 core markets in Europe and Bulgaria is one of them. Bulgaria is a stable and strong member of the European Union with high potential and promising future. In our new Competence Centre, we will be providing a range of services remotely to the rest of the Group in our other core countries. We expect rapid expansion after the opening and are looking to hire active, talented and educated people."

The Shared Services Centre will be created and managed using a model, already known and successful for KBC. The group launched such a project in 2011 in Brno, Czech Republic, and currently around 800 people are employed there. Part of the employees in Varna will be engaged in activities such as HR, project management, facility management, IT and risk management, which are fundamental for the operation of the company. (Others will deal with the centre's first project related to trade finance). New positions will be opened literally every week, until forming all project teams.

Peter Andronov, Country Manager of KBC Group for Bulgaria and Chief Executive Officer of UBB, emphasized the importance of the Belgian bancassurance group for the Bulgarian market: “KBC’s presence in Bulgaria is key both for the banking sector stability, as well as for the attracting of new investors, who follow closely our behavior. Just an example: on the day after the acquisition of UBB in June 2017 from in previous Greek owner, FITCH Rating Agency raised UBB’s rating with the unprecedented 6 notches up to the highest in this country ‘А-‘. КВС brings over stability and predictability.”

“Varna has been selected in competition with several other cities in Central and Eastern Europe and also in Bulgaria. We believe that Varna has been developing along the right track and has the biggest unrealized potential to grow. From here we are going to service the activity of different entities of KBC Group. We are impatient to welcome оur new employees, by giving them excellent career opportunities and remuneration in a large international group without any need to leave our country,” added Peter Andronov.