The Governing Council of the National Bank of Bulgaria adopted a national decision implementing an instruction from the European Central Bank, granting Bulgarian-American Credit Bank AD preliminary approval to directly acquire a qualifying holding exceeding 50% of the share capital and voting rights in Tokuda Bank EAD. The update sits within the Single Supervisory Mechanism framework: since close cooperation between the European Central Bank and the National Bank of Bulgaria and Bulgaria’s entry into the SSM from 1 October 2020, the European Central Bank has exclusive competence to assess notifications for acquisitions of qualifying holdings in credit institutions, working with the National Bank of Bulgaria.