Banking services use in Bulgaria has increased in 2010, Miroslava Georgieva of marketing agency GfK Bulgaria told a banking conference quoting new statistics.

“There is high potential for development and further penetration of banking services,” according to Georgieva. She pointed out that Bulgaria is lagging behind the average for the Central and Eastern European countries. Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic boast the highest level of banking services penetration, whereas Bulgaria and Romania are falling behind.

GfK Bulgaria expects that the number of Bulgarians using banking services will increase alongside the requirements of customers interested in the management of their personal finances. The number of alternative financial services offered by companies other than banks is also anticipated to grow.

Different banking services are popular in different CEE countries. For instance, Czech, Slovakian, Austrian and even Russian banks are much more popular with savers than with borrowers. By contrast, Bulgarians, Romanians and Hungarians go to bank offices mostly to take loans. GfK Bulgaria attributes this to Bulgarians’ lower income when compared to what CEE citizens are earning as well as the low awareness of personal finance planning.

According to a survey conducted by GfK Bulgaria, just 6 percent of Bulgarians say they have disposable money to save up. The country trails the CEE regions by this indicator, ranking even after Romania.