Ms. Emilia Milanova, Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) in charge of Banking Supervision department, issued a permit to Austria’s Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG (BA-CA) to own directly shares representing qualified equity (10 and over 10%) without the right to reach or surpass 20% of the capital of Central Cooperative Bank AD (CCB AD).

CCB AD posted a profit of 12.013 mln leva or 0.23 leva per share last year compared with 6.387 mln leva or 0.20 leva per share in 2005.

Last year the bank increased its capital from 48.507 mln leva to 72.761 mln leva. Its own capital increased to 116.64 mln leva in the end of 2006.

CCB Group Asset Management EAD holds 67.70% of the bank’s capital. Chimimport and Hansapank control 8.73% and 4.56% respectively.

A total of 15,433 shares in this position were traded today at a level between 7.80 and 8.00 per share.