There are no small and big challenges
Business and people are communicating vessels
While you can decide yourself, nothing is lost
The interview was taken by Silvia Dzhagarova and Kaloyan Atanasov, Banker Special magazine - issue 21, July 2012.

Mr. Christov, you have completed your studies in Accounting and Control at the University of National and World Economy. Why didn't you pursue a career in this profession but you chose the banking sector?

Before being admitted to the Institute of Economics, I had three preferences. I like exact sciences and technical disciplines. I have finished my secondary studies in "Internal combustion engines" and I wanted to study this major at the Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering but I also applied for "Accounting" as well as "Finance" at the UNWE. I did not want to make compromises and study something in principle. I was admitted to both places, and the dilemma was engines or accounting. After holding a family council in which we discussed the career perspectives, I took the advice of my family and I chose accounting. Even before I graduated, I started working in this field for a commercial company providing logistic services to a chain of gas stations.
After student days were over, I had the opportunity to start working as a financial director. It was a bit strange to manage professionals with 25-30 years of experience who could have been my parents. I understood the difference between theory and practice, I learned to maintain human relations within a large corporation.
After that I worked in a company offering software products for company governance. I met with large clients, got to know the business processes and the small steps that drive business. This helped me in banking. I have been spending half a year outside Sofia during the railway strikes. I have been spending two-three hours in a train with no electricity, stuck in a tunnel. I also served my military service in order to move on.

From the beginning of your career at First Investment Bank you have been on different positions. Which department did you find most pleasant to work in?
I started with large corporate clients crediting, then I was invited by First Investment Bank. At that time it had started developing a unit for mortgage crediting. When I came only few things had been done. Documents as well as the program framework were prepared by a person who had just gone to study in USA. We had to quickly position FIB on the map for offering products to natural persons. Within a few years, starting from scratch, we reached 4th place in mortgage and 5th place in consumer crediting. We started from establishing the ideal profile of our employees and finding effective ways to make them keen on working. We improved the programs and methods of control on our activity. Those were turbulent times, many things were made for the first time, we worked with vigor and managed to compensate our falling behind.
After three-four years we had to turn our attention to developing the branch network because personal banking is to a large extent performed there. When I started working on this position we had 30-40 branches and when I finished their number had increased fourfold. We elaborated a methodology for determining the development potential of a given city. It is based on economic parameters, unemployment data, population size, working enterprises and administrative structures; it started working very successfully in our case.

Which are the most serious challenges that you have faced as a banker?
There are no big and small challenges, every day we prove ourselves. For me it is most important to succeed maintaining the balance between employees' satisfaction with the working environment and the high standards and requirements that the managers have towards them. Out people should be satisfied and professionally protected, and at the same time they should comply with the professional and legal norms of service valid in the corporation.

First Investment Bank is the general sponsor of our Olympic athletes for London 2012. What achievements do you expect from them?
As a general sponsor of one of the participants in a grand sports event like the Olympics 2012, we would be happy if the name of Bulgaria is promoted. Our ranking in many of the disciplines such as volleyball, athletics, wrestling, boxing and others is success in itself. Many other countries did not qualified at all and nobody will hear about them.
If we look at the size of Bulgaria with regard to territory and number of population compared to our competitors, we should appreciate each individual or team success. This is because the number of our athletes compared to those of Poland, for example, is one against ten. There, the selection of talents is much larger, respectively so are the expectations. We are a small nation but also a sports nation and we are proud of this.

You have awarded a lot of checks on behalf of Fibank to prize winners in different competitions. Which award was the most pleasant for you and why?
Our bank really gives a lot of awards. This is part of our policy for corporate social responsibility and active social position. I personally experience the emotion equally with the other side every time. The most exciting moment for me was undoubtedly the check award to the young ski hopes of Bulgaria. The money for the check was collected on a charity evening at Bunderishka polyana in Bansko during the world ski cup.

Do you have hobbies, do you play sports in your spare time?
If one's work is his hobby, then he doesn't have a single day of service. I have three children and if I don't relax with them I would not have any spare time. Each moment we do our favorite things. I like water sports, they give me a dose of adrenaline and ensure me contact with nature. I refer mostly the water ski and wakeboarding which is an extreme water sport, a combination between water ski, snowboard and surf. It is practiced with a board pulled by a boat or a tower. There are excellent conditions for practicing this sport at the lake of Kazichene.
I like the combination between sun, water and nature, this is how I balance my energy.
In the winter I have also tried ski blade. These are short and maneuverable ski which are used without sticks. It is easy to turn but very difficult to stop. Last year we were skiing with my eldest son in Borovets and we had great fun, he is very good at it. The problem is that I nearly knocked down a few innocent skiers along the track.

Which are your favorite places for recreation?
I have explored almost the whole country, including many unknown places.
One has to feel the spirit of each place. If you don't sit in the local restaurant and don't hear what people are talking about and what their problems are, then you can't extract the essence. In order to say that something is good you should be familiar with it. We do not appreciate our country through the perspective of national pride but through very concrete things such as the neat and beautiful villages and cities. I relax in places where one realizes how small he is in front of the greatness of nature. These are our mountains with the great green panoramas as well as the vast sea. I like tranquility, clean air and the space in the pleasant company of my family.
Each moment spent with the children is an endless action. They perceive things in an extremely funny way, have inexhaustible energy, always break something somewhere...

Which is the most important law of life that you invariably follow?
The best is yet to come.
I am a big optimist. Every life situation depends on the state of our spirit. There is a dose of humor even in the most intensive and unpleasant moments. If you are still able to decide, then nothing is lost. We need to know how to make compromises in work, in our relationship in order to adjust our characters.

Are you fond of any art? What music do you listen to?
I like Bulgarian music and I listen to "BG radio". It is important that the texts are meaningful and bring a message. If a song has two-three syllables, however rhythmic and dynamic it is, it could not attract me. Recently I heard the song of Lili Ivanova "You are not the one for me" - it is quite good really. I can listen to both classical music and the rock band The Offspring, depending on the mood. I have great memories from childhood when my parents took me to performances. We all dressed formally and during the performances I sank into the deep, soft chairs, and the interval was the time for a sandwich or a drink. I am trying to grow up love for art in my children and that is why we go to the theater, cinema, concerts. But we also watch a lot of cartoons, now we are waiting for "Madagascar 3". It is easier to create a storyline for a feature movie than for a cartoon. There is always a lesson and values incorporated in the cartoon. Children understand what is good or bad through them.

You and your family participated in a very original commercial. Is it true, as you say in the commercial, that you are searching for a new family home and how does the perfect home look like in your view?
Yes, the commercial contains a very strong personal message. I am indeed searching for a new home. Having three children at different ages with different needs, we have to find a larger place to live. The perfect home for me is the one where all members of my family can do the things they want without disturbing the others and being in harmony with their inner peace. Naturally, there should have one place where we can all be together.

Is it difficult to participate in a commercial and how did your children took this commitment?
There was, of course, some embarrassment from the camera, the operators and the whole turmoil which is part of the shooting. The scene was shot in one of the most visited parks in Sofia and many people were stopping to see what is going on. They were asking if a series is being shot, whether it is a video of the new district mayor or something else. This suddenly raises the tension because there is already an audience standing aside and commenting on something. The children had fun, actually the youngsters always find everything funny.

In another video with your colleagues Dimitar Kostov and Svetoslav Moldovanski you also play yourself. Why did you undertake this move which was not standard for the banking sector and which was subsequently adopted by other banks as well?
In the year preceding this video we changed the managing bodies of the bank. We hired IFC as a consultant on corporate governance and we created the new governance structure in accordance with their recommendations and the new requirements of ECB. Thus the well-known executive directors Mrs. Maya Georgieva, Mr. Jordan Skortchev and Mr. Evgeni Lukanov became members of the Supervisory Board, and Mr. Dimitar Kostov, Mr. Svetoslav Moldovanski and me took the positions of the executive directors. With this video we wanted to show that behind the institutional curtain of banks stand real people who are friends with business, clients and technologies. I am glad that also other colleagues have adopted our concept on showing the human face of banks, this really melts the ice between us and the clients.