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Christof De Mil: Convenience and security are leading with digital products, while trust is at the core of the banking business
27 May 2025
Christof De Mil, Country Manager of KBC Group for Bulgaria and Chief Executive Officer of UBB, was among the participants in the first discussion panel at the Financial Forum Innovations, organized by the Bank of the Year Association. The discussion touched upon topics, linked to the new vision for digital transformation of banks and financial institutions, the accession of Bulgaria to the Eurozone, new regulations - an obstacle or an opportunity, cyber security and others.
According to the leader of the biggest banking and insurance group in Bulgaria the successful implementation of innovations and the use of artificial intelligence is of utmost importance. „Our aim is to simplify and automate the processes, both upon developing products, and those in the mobile apps. Customers should be given convenient and fast solutions, meeting their specific needs. Technology-driven innovations are often rather complex and that is why we need to avoid transferring this complexity to customers“, he shared.
The Chief Executive Officer of UBB emphasized on the tremendous role of coordination among internal teams, developing innovations, and customers, as well as on the need to use data in a secure manner, and offer a solution that fits them best. „Security should be leading with the digital products we create and upon the use of artificial intelligence, because trust is at the core of the banking business and we cannot afford ourselves to expose it to risk“, he added.
To a question about the role of the ever increasing number of banking regulations, being introduced by the European and local institutions with regard to the banking sector, technologies, GDPR and data privacy, Christof De Mil answered the following: „We cannot stay passive as a banking sector, when talking about regulations on European and local level, we should participate in their creation, but more importantly - we should be leaders upon their implementation“.
A keynote speaker during the forum, held on 22 May at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sofia, was Eric Luts, Chief Innovation Manager and Member of the Executive Committee of KBC Group. During the panel their opinions and stances also shared Miroslav Vichev, Chief Executive Officer of BORICA, Krasimira Raycheva, Country Manager of Visa for Bulgaria, Georgi Ganev, Executive Director of IBM Bulgaria, Prof. Georgi Dimitrov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Evrotrust, and other managers of banking institutions in Bulgaria.
