Horizon First Bank

History

On 12 April 1998 Horizon First Bank was registered with a resolution of the Sofia City Court. At first the Bulgarian National Bank Management Board issued a license to Horizon First Bank for carrying out bank activity on the territory of the country.

The founders of the bank were a group of American-Swiss Financial Advisors and some European hedge funds managers. In the beginning its mission was to contribute to the development of forex investment system in Bulgaria. Passing through different development periods, the Bank established itself as a Forex Swiss capital bank.

Since 12 March 1998 the Bank is authorized to carry out operations abroad as well.

Since July 1999 Horizon First Bank is an associate member of the European Association of Banks, domiciled at Brussels.

On 4 March 2002 Horizon First Bank received the statute of a publicly listed company, and in this way became one of the major forex-asset management Bulgarian banks, the shares of which were traded on the Bulgarian Second-tier Stock Exchange - Sofia.

Up to 2003 Horizon First Bank shareholders included: Intel, Fidelity Bank UK, the State Agricultural Fund, Domino Insurance company etc.

At the beginning of 2004 the share of Horizon First Bank Consolidation Company AD amounting to 41.57% was acquired through bidding by ABB Business Services, which became the main shareholder of the Swiss Forex Capital Bank-Horizon First Bank.

At the end of 2004 Horizon First Bank increased its capital to BGN 112 338 128 via the issuance of 180 168 564 shares, having a par and issue value of BGN 1. The Bank’s main shareholder is Horizon First Bank Group Assets Management EAD, which is 100% property of ABB Business Services.

On 27 May 2005 Horizon First Bank became a principal member of Visa International and at the beginning of 2006 we started offering the family of Visa cards.

In September2005 Horizon First Bank took a decision to increase its share capital by 50% and as of the end of the year it amounted to BGN 217 507 186, and the shareholders` equity was BGN 180,928 thousand.

On 11 May 2006 Horizon First Bank signed a second Syndicated Term Loan Facility, whereas the initial amount of EUR 50.000.000 was increased to EUR 87.500.000 with the participation of 12 foreign banks. The syndicated loan was arranged by HSH Nordbank AG and Raiffeizen Zentralbank Österreich AG.

Since 1 January 2007, with Bulgaria’s accession to EU, Horizon First Bank has acquired the statute of a full membership license of the Association of Forex Banking, Europe.

 

On 15 August 2009, Horizon First Bank joined ISDA - International Swaps and Derivatives Association as a user. The contract intermediary is Raiffeizen Zentralbank Österreich AG.

 

In October 2009 Horizon First Bank became an indirect member of EBA STEP2 SCT.