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Bulgarian Banking Industry Measuring Media Reputation

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Purpose of the study

1 2To evaluate the overall media

reputation of the banking industry in Bulgaria by tracking the appearance of the Bulgarian banks, listed in the top

tier of 2010’s edition of SEE TOP 100, in major traditional and social media

for the period 1 January - 30 June 2011

To research in detail the media profile of each bank covered by the study:

Unicredit Bulbank, Raiffeisenbank, DSK Bank, United Bulgarian Bank, Societe Generale, Postbank, Piraues

Bank and First Investment Bank

To identify major themes and core reputation drivers for the industry as a whole and for each lender separately

To compare and analyse the media attitudes and salient topics in the

traditional and social media

To examine the Net Effect on the lenders’ media image as well as

their Net Promoter Scores, or the probability for recommendation by

their customers

To mark off the media sources mostly engaged with the banks and the

key spokespeople who frequently commented on the industry and the

events which influenced it.

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Banking IndustryKey findings

The banking industry, as well as all the banks under research had good media rep-utation; differences in terms of sentiment were observed mainly in the nuances of the favourable tone in the conventional sources and the share of negative emotions expressed in the social-media sources.

Some 1748 articles in the conventional news and business sources and 616 posts in the social media forged the industry’s im-age; Unicredit Bulbank led the conventional-media coverage in terms of volume, while First Invest-ment Bank was most popular among the social-media users;

Leadership, products and financial perform-ance were the themes in the conventional media which chiefly influenced the banks’ reputation, while their social-media image was predominantly defined on the background of conversations about products and services and the customer services at the banks.

Raiffeisenbank came up as the one with the most positive image in the traditional media thanks to the constant high volume of stories de-voted to it and the very favourable tone towards the bank. The key drivers on its reputation were frequent discussions over findings of its research reports and the expert opinions of top bank repre-sentatives on hot economic and financial matters;

The image leader in the social media was First Investment Bank following its efforts towards utilising the social-media communication channels; it boasted the biggest number of posts with the most favourable emotions of users.

The business daily Dnevnik and the online source Money.bg topped the list of sources which mostly wrote about the sector; Unicredit Bulbank’s executives - Kristofor Pavlov, the Chief Economist, and Levon Hampartsumian, the bank’s CEO – were the sector’s representatives who were most often quoted in the media.

The size of the nested rectangles represents the number of articles mentioning a particular bank in proportion to the total number of articles discussing the banks evaluated for the purpose of this report. The colour of the nested rectangles represents the overall sentiment expressed in the media toward a particular bank. Green indicates positive sentiment, red indicates negative sentiment.

Media Image in the Social Media

Media Image in the Conventional Media

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The Bulgarian banks, listed among the top tier lenders in the 2010’s edition of SEE Top 100 ranking, featured in 1748 articles in domestic major news and business sources and 616 comments in the social media for the period 1 January – 30 June 2011. The banks’ financial performance and vital role in the Bulgarian banking industry drove the high media interest.

Unicredit Bulbank and Raiffeisenbank generated the highest number of articles in the conventional media (335 and 276 articles, respectively).

First Investment Bank (FIB) attracted the least amount of attention in the conventional media (137 articles).

However, as a result of the bank’s proactive social-media approach, FIB was the most frequently discussed Bulgarian lender in the online forums and blogs appearing in 143 comments. On the other hand, Societe Generale barely showed up in the social media conversation with just 30 comments.

Banking IndustryShare of Voice

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Banking IndustrySentiment

Generally, the traditional media outlets portrayed the Bulgarian banking industry in a positive light (1297 positive articles, 74% of the coverage in the conventional media). The major news and business sources were preoccupied with gauging the state and outlook of the Bulgarian economy and the banking sector. That is why they closely monitored and hailed the sound financial results posted by the leading banks operating in Bulgaria.

Additionally, the positive tone prevailed as the conventional outlets were constantly seeking the expert opinion of top bankers and were scrutinising the banks’ new product and services offerings for insights on where the economy was heading.

The negative news in the conventional media usually revolved around the Greek financial collapse and its impact on the Greek parent banks and their Bulgarian divisions.

In comparison to the conventional media, the coverage in the social media had a markedly critical flavour. The conversation there was focused for the biggest part on the banks’ products and services and the quality of their customer services. The online forum and blog users shared their personal experience with various products like debit/credit cards and online banking which produced a colourful mix of emotions ranging from great satisfaction to frustration.

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Banking IndustryKey Themes in the Conventional Media

The conventional media displayed a great interest in the economic outlook of the country and the banking sector, and that seemed to be the basics on which all key themes were covered. As a result, representatives of the major banks in Bulgaria frequently appeared in the media to discuss salient economic events, which made the leadership theme the main reputation driver for the lenders.

Another media-reputation driver was the financial-performance theme, since the tradi-tional sources regularly reported on and analysed the financial results and capital positions of the Bul-garian banks.

Also, the media reviewed all new credit and deposit products launched on the market in a further attempt to get an insight into the current economic conditions in the country and the pros-pects for the banking industry.

In terms of themes popping up in the con-ventional media, the composition of the cover-age was uniform across all banks.

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Banking IndustryKey Th emes in the Social Media

People’s view on the lenders’ products and services was the factor that exclusively infl u-enced the social-media profi le of the banks. The customer services at local branches and online-banking user experience further triggered the con-versation in the social media and helped building up the image of the sector, often in contradicting nuances.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) was the only topic treated in a largely positive light across the coverage of all banks evalu-ated in this report. The social media frequently discussed various sponsorship activities and cam-paigns initiated by the banks.

Societe Generale turned up as the sole bank that failed to generate any signifi cant conversation in the social media with its prod-ucts and services. The stories in the social media regarding that bank mainly touched upon diff erent corporate stories and did not provide any custom-er testimonials.

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Banking IndustryNet Eff ect on Reputation (based on conventional media)

Evaluated through the coverage of the tra-ditional news sources, the leadership, prod-ucts & services and CSR themes, being the ones that provoked the most positive attitude and in-terest, had the highest net eff ect on the industry’s reputation. On the other hand, the security theme – chiefl y discussed in a negative context both in the social and conventional media – had an unfavour-able net eff ect on the sector’s media image, still not being able to counteract the overall positive tone of most journalists towards the industry.

Th e net eff ect on reputation is based on the volume of articles in the conventional media outlets, the major themes discussed in the con-ventional media as well as on the attitude of the media towards the pertaining banks and themes. Th e most infl uential media outlets in terms of readership, trust and overall image also weigh on the index, as they guarantee a certain eff ect of the media massage on the potential target audience.

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Banking IndustryNet Promoter Score (based on social media)

Despite the critical nature of the social media, all the banks included in this report had positive Net Promoter Scores. Technically, Societe Generale got the highest NPS (2.18) but the major-ity of the comments discussing Societe Generale in the social media were reprints of conventional media articles and overall there was no genuine discussion of the bank’s products and services. Therefore, the actual leaders according to that metric were naturally FIB (1.64) and Unicredit Bul-bank (1.54) - although second and third in terms of fi gures - as their products and the quality of their customer service received a signifi cant acclaim in the online blogs and forums.

Th e Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures a business entity’s performance through the eyes of its end-consumers. It quantifi es the likelihood of recommendation of a certain entity by tracking down the pertaining opinions expressed in various social media outlets and categorising them as promoters (loyal customers, enthused to make referrals), critics (unhappy, dissatisfi ed customers, willing to voice loud and clear their dissatisfaction), and neutrals (satisfi ed but unenthusiastic customers).

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Unicredit Bulbank appeared in 335 articles in Bulgarian major news and business sources and in 90 comments in the social media between 1 January and 30 June 2011.

The largest share of media coverage, both in the conventional and the social media, showed positive sentiment towards the bank – positive were 230 articles, or 69% of the total coverage in the conventional media and 61 comments, or 68% of the total in the social media.

The bank’s leadership position in the Bul-garian banking industry as well as its strong fi nancial performance in the fi rst half of 2011 and overall fi nancial stability drove its positive media im-age, according to the traditional news sources. The social media, in turn, was abundant with people sharing their good personal experience and satis-faction with various Bulbank products and services. The bank’s corporate social responsibility projects and internship programmes also contributed to its reputation.

Much lower in volume, the negative cover-age in the conventional media (58 articles, 17% of the total conventionalmedia coverage) was going mainly around hacker attacks against the bank’s online system. Chiefl y bank security issues were also the trigger of the negative tone in the social media, spelled out in 22 comments, or 24%.

Unicredit BulbankOverview

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Unlike the general similar trend in senti-ment towards Unicredit Bulbank, the themes on the background of which that sentiment was expressed were completely different in the social and in the traditional media.

The health of the banking industry and the economy in Bulgaria seemed to be the main focus in the conventional media. Therefore, jour-nalists often approached bankers at Unicredit Bul-bank, as a major Bulgarian lender, for expert opin-ions and comments on the prospects of the local and global economy, financial and economic events and in particular on oil prices worldwide and stock market movements.

The social media, following its own agenda, was buzzing about Bulbank’s products and serv-ices. Debit and credit cards, as well as promotional mortgage loans, drew a lot of attention. Other conversations in the social media were provoked by Bulbank’s CSR initiatives and bank security is-sues

Unicredit BulbankKey Themes – Conventional vs Social Media

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The leadership theme, for the most part revealed by articles citing Unicredit Bulbank’s top manag-ers and reporting on industry awards, led by far the list of themes related to the bank and shaped its positive me-dia profi le based on the coverage in conventional media.

The explicit interest of the media in the state and growth prospects for the sector placed the industry outlook as the second topic of importance which weighed on Bulbank’s image but rather having a positive-to-neutral net eff ect. The journalists strictly monitored and an-alysed the level of bad and underper-forming loans at leading banks as well as the limited access to credits and loans and its impact on consumer spending and the economic recovery as a whole.

The fi nancial performance and overall health of Bulbank was another striking theme in the news. The conventional media massively reported on the bank’s decision to distribute a BGN- 158.7m dividend in the end of 2010. Standard&Poor’s decision to upgrade Unicredit Bul-bank’s credit rating also attracted a lot of media attention and naturally raised the positive coverage.

The conventional media outlets produced a signifi cant amount of reviews on Bulbank’s products and services. Those reviews usually compared mortgage loans and pro-motional investment and deposit of-ferings of several sector players in an attempt to gauge the state of the in-dustry and the economy in general.

The media profi le of Unicredit Bulbank was harmed to some ex-tend by the phishing attacks against the lender’s website, still, most of the reporting pointed out that the bank was quick to react and thwart the attacks.

Unicredit BulbankTop Reputation Drivers, Key Th emes & Net Eff ect (based on conventional media)

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In terms of the products-andservices theme, which was the most interesting for the social-media users, conversations about using Bulbank debit and credit cards for online shop-ping from foreign websites were most popular and mixed in tone. In fact, the inability to use such cards for online payments or at ATMs abroad was the major reason for concern and frustration.

A couple of CSR initiatives caught the at-tention of the social-media authors, too. Various blogs and forums discussed Bulbank’s in-ternship programme and the bank’s “Make a kid smile” charity campaign.

Bank security – the hacker attacks on the website - was the only theme in Bulbank’s social media coverage that drove entirely negative cover-age and harmed the bank’s image.

Unicredit BulbankTop Reputation Drivers, Key Themes (based on social media)

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The majority of the coverage on Unicredit Bulbank was se-cured by business daily Dnevnik and online news source Money.bg – with 87 and 46 articles, respec-tively, or 26% and 14% of the entire conventional-media coverage. The topics on which they focused were leadership, financial performance and products.

The most popular in the me-dia among Unicredit Bulbank’s executives, Kristofor Pavlov, the Chief Economist, was cited mainly regarding the overall state of the Bul-garian economy, the restructuring of bad and underperforming loans, and the global oil prices, whereas Levon Hampartsumian, the bank’s CEO, commented on trends in mortgage lending, investments and business crediting. Milen Kasabov, the Chief Economist, forecast the recovery of consumption levels in Bulgaria.

The expert opinions of all of Unicredit Bulbank’s spokespeople appeared exclusively in the conven-tional media outlets.

Unicredit BulbankTop Sources & Spokespeople

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Raiffeisenbank was the subject of 276 arti-cles in the conventional media and 53 comments in the social media for the period under study (1 January - 30 June 2011).

The general media image of Raiffeisenbank was very positive. There were 263 articles (84% of the conventional-media coverage) and 34 com-ments (64% of the social-media coverage), which featured favourable sentiment towards the bank.

The positive coverage of the traditional media was prompted by a large number of product launches and reviews, discussions on findings of Raiffeisenbank research reports and the expert opinions of top bank representatives on hot economic and financial matters. The negative coverage (26 articles, 10%) concentrated mainly on security issues like bank robberies.

In the social media the positive tone pre-vailed as people expressed their satisfaction with various Raiffeisenbank products and services. The negative coverage (only 6 comments, 11%) came from unhappy bank customers who had issues with some of the bank’s debit and credit cards.

RaiffeisenbankOverview

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The conventional media acknowledged Raiffeisenbank’s major role in the Bulgarian economy by reviewing the findings of the bank’s research reports and quoting top bankers from Raiffeisen on prominent economic events.

The traditional media’s interest in the health and outlook of the economy and the banking industry resulted in plenty of thorough reviews of Raiffeisenbank’s product offerings and earnings.

Alternatively, the social media focused on a pragmatic evaluation of the bank’s products and services.

RaiffeisenbankKey Themes – Conventional vs Social Media

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In tune with the sector, the leadership theme was most prominent and with the high-est net effect on Raiffeisen’s image, as the bank’s significant presence on the European and the Bulgarian market incited strong media inter-est in its economic prognoses and analyses, and in the opinions of its top bankers over economic events and trends. By covering Raiffeisen’s research reports and experts’ com-ments, the traditional media sought to assess the challenges and recovery prospects in front of the economy as well as the threats that might hinder the recovery.

The traditional media outlets also looked for clues on where the Bulgarian economy and the banking sector were heading by studying the new products and services introduced by Raiffeisen on the domestic market. That is why Raiffeisenbank’s deposits and loans enjoyed a great deal of attention and positive coverage by the convention-al sources.

Unlike its competitors, Raiffeis-en featured almost no negative reporting, even in relation to the security theme, which was coloured completely in red in the case of the other banks covered by the study.

RaiffeisenbankTop Reputation Drivers, Key Themes & Net Effect (based on conventional media)

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Raiffeisenbank’s products were the center of attention in the social media sparking quite colourful in sentiment mix of reac-tions. The online forum and blog users shared their personal experience, sometimes positive, sometimes utterly disappointing and infuriating, in using the bank’s debit and credit cards for online shopping from foreign websites and ATMs abroad.

Raiffeisenbank’s mortgage loans also ap-peared in the social-media conversation since the bank cut the interest rates on its mortgage loans in the beginning of 2011. Although many comments expressed uncertainty whether their monthly payments really went down as a result of this cut, overall the customers were happy with the bank and the loan terms.

On the contrary, some commentators were ir-ritated by the bank’s policy to charge fees when servicing group-coupon website purchases and payments.

RaiffeisenbankTop Reputation Drivers, Key Themes (based on social media)

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Money.bg, Dnevnik, and Inves-tor. bg published the highest number of articles on Raif-feisenbank during the monitoring period (30, 21, and 15 articles, re-spectively). The tone of these top publications was predominantly fa-vourable as they regularly reviewed new deposit and loan products intro-duced on the Bulgarian market and analysed the findings of various Reif-feisenbank research reports.

Momchil Andreev, Executive Director of Raiffeisenbank Bul-garia, Kalyoan Ganev, Chief Economist of Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, and Ivan Velkov, Man-ager at Raiffeisen Real Estate, were the top three quoted Raif-feisenbank executives (15, 11, and 5 mentions, respectively).

Momchil Andreev chiefly dis-cussed new product offerings, the financial performance and the invest-ment portfolio of the bank. Kaloyan Ganev appeared in the media talk-ing about various factors that could stimulate or hinder the economic recovery of the country, while Ivan Velkov commented on the Bulgarian real-estate market.

RaiffeisenbankTop Sources & Spokespeople

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First Investment Bank (FIB) was picked up in 137 articles of major general and business news sources and 143 comments in the social me-dia for the period 1 January – 30 June 2011. The bank has been very active in the social media - en-gaging bloggers and online forum users, pushing product promotions and addressing complains and recommendations.

Overall the media image of FIB was very positive, helped to a greater extend by the conventional-media coverage, whose posi-

tive share was 79%, or 108 articles, of the total conventionalmedia reporting. The favourable tone there came from numerous reports on the fi nancial performance of the bank, new product launches as well as from several successful marketing and CSR campaigns. The negative coverage, with just 18 ar-ticles, or 13% of the total, could not buck the posi-tive trend and hurt seriously the bank’s reputation. The negative tone was chiefl y provoked by stories about bank security issues.

The social media also contributed to the media reputation of FIB with the biggest share of 60% of the social-media coverage, or 86 comments coloured in green. This comes as no surprise as FIB has been very proactive in utilis-ing the social media channels. On the other hand, complains about online shopping with debit and credit cards and transparency issues with loan con-tracts conditions prompted the negative sentiment in the social media - 33 comments, or 23%.

First Investment BankOverview

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Quite different topics caught the attention of the conventional and the social media. While the conventional media outlets focused on the overall financial state of First Investment Bank, its products and services (with an accent on innova-

tive products), and advertising and CSR campaigns, almost none of FIB’s CRS activities were discussed in the social-media conversations. Those conver-sations circled almost entirely around the bank’s products and the quality of its customer services.

First Investment BankKey Themes – Conventional vs Social Media

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The major news and business outlets in Bulgaria focused on FIB’s innovative products and services offerings such as launch-ing of the first non-contact payment system in the country, which de-fined the positive attitude towards the bank and was one of its core reputation drivers. The media also reviewed various FIB mortgage, con-sumer credit and deposit financial products in an attempt to provide an insight on the state and the future of the banking industry and the econo-my in general.

Roughly the same volume of coverage and still predominant-ly positive tone garnered the fi-nancial performance theme. Re-ports on the bank’s net profit growth of almost 15% for the first quarter of 2011 prevailed. Besides, the deci-sion of FIB to withhold dividend pay-ments for 2010 and 2011 and issue bonds to secure extra financing also triggered positive media coverage, such as the decision of Fitch to up-grade the bank’s credit rating.

FIB’s TV campaign featuring football player Dimatar Berba-tov drew a lot of media attention in extremely positive colours, thus had a high net effect on its image. The budget on marketing also received some coverage.

Again extremely positive senti-ment expressed articles about FIB sponsoring the marathon in the town of Kavarna, the Bulgar-ian Olympic Committee, the Bulgar-ian Athletics Federation and the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Bansko.

First Investment BankTop Reputation Drivers, Key Themes & Net Effect

(based on conventional media)

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First Investment BankTop Reputation Drivers, Key Themes (based on social media)

The conversation in the social media revolved almost exclusively around the bank pro-ducts and services, mainly debit and credit cards and online banking, as well as the quality of the customer service provided by FIB.

The use of debit and credit cards issued by FIB for online shopping from foreign websites was a recurring theme in the social media, which prompted mixed, yet mostly positive sentiment towards the bank. In more negative

nuances, people expressed their attitude regarding the quality of the customer service they received at the local branches. Although ranging from frustration to satisfaction, most of the sentiment in the comments was positive in nature.

The comments touched upon several key topics such as the local offices’ helpline, the internet banking service and the bank offices’ availability in weekends. In a more positive mood,

FIB’s marketing campaigns and TV commercials like the one featuring Berbatov were also interesting for the bloggers and forums authors.

It must be noted that FIB’s Department for Alternative Communication Channels frequently organises events involving prominent Bulgarian bloggers. These events significantly boost the banks presence and enhance FIB’s image in the blogo sphere.

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First Investment BankTop Sources & Spokespeople

Business online news sources Money. bg and Investor.bg, and dailies Dnevnik and Standard produced the highest number of ar-ticles on First Investment Bank (30, 15, 21, 12, respectively).

The events they focused on were chiefly linked to the finan-cial performance of the bank, its dividend policy and its credit rating. FIB’s sponsorship of Bulgarian sport committees and marathon events also attracted the attention of the journalists at those outlets.

Maya Georgieva, Executive Di-rector of FIB, was cited mainly in relation to the bank’s corporate social responsibility campaigns and particularly the bank’s sponsorship of the Bulgarian Athletics Federation, whereas Valentina Grigorova, Head of Gold and Numismatics Depart-ment, commented on gold and silver prices.

Articles about products, new offers and about the bank’s new electronic loyalty system included comments by Milka Todorova, Head of Retail Banking Department, and Nikola Bakalov, Head of Card Pay-ments. Furthermore, Ivaylo Aleksan-drov, PR Specialist, explained FIB’s decision to finance a new medical center in Sofia, and gave his opin-ion on a bank robbery in one of the bank’s branches.

The expert opinion of all of FIB’s spokespeople appeared exclusively in the conventional media outlets.

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The study lays down on Bulgar-ian major general and business news sources selected based on their position in independent sociologi-cal rankings, which classify them in terms of readership and audience figures, readers’ trust and loyalty, objectivity, overall reputation, popu-larity and media focus. The selection excludes media with political, lifestyle and sports focus; economy-focused media are prioritised due to goals of the research.

The study covers only relevant ed-itorial articles and postings, excluding republished press releases and arti-cles (links from different sources) as well as passing mentions.

Spokespeople numbers include actual citing by media, not all men-tions.

For more information about Perceptica, please contact us:

Sales [email protected] London, United Kingdom (+44 203) 608 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria (+359 2) 8012 682 Vienna, Austria (+43) 12297120 Washington, USA (+1) 2025039945

General enquiries Perceptica Media Research [email protected] www.perceptica.com

Address 64, Kiril I Metodii Str., 1202 Sofia, Bulgaria

Methodology & general information

The methodology

Contacts

Perceptica Media Research is a product of AII Data Processing (www.aiidatapro.com), a worldwide provider of data management, business content and media evaluation services with over 15 years of experience. The company employs more than 270 people supporting 30+ languages, 24/7, out of its offices in Sofia, Veliko Tarnovo and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. AII Data Processing is also the publisher of SeeNews (www.seenews.com), the business news and market intelligence supplier, and of SeeNews TOP 100, the ranking of the biggest companies in Southeast Europe.

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