UniCredit

UniCredit S.p.A. operates as a commercial bank that provides retail, corporate, and private banking services. It offers accounts and deposits, loans, cards, transactions and payments, funds, advisory, treasury, and insurance products, as well as digital and mobile banking services. 

The company also provides solutions for payments and liquidity, working capital, hedging, international trade, and treasury operations; funding solutions comprising structured, project, and commodity trade and export finance, as well as debt and equity funding; and structured investments and investments advisory solutions. 

In addition, the company provides corporate finance, capital structure, and rating advisory, as well as patient capital, financial sponsor solutions, and sustainable finance solutions. It serves retail, corporate, and public sector customers, as well as international companies and institutional clients. 

The company operates in Italy, Other European countries, America, Asia, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Unicredito Italiano S.p.A and changed its name to UniCredit S.p.A. UniCredit S.p.A. was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy.

UniCredit Group was the outcome of the 1998 merger of several Italian banking groups, of which the majority one were Unicredito and Credito Italiano, hence the name Unicredito Italiano. Credito Italiano issued about 38.46% new shares to the owners of Unicredito and renamed itself to Unicredito Italiano. Other banks such as Banca dell'Umbria, Cassa di Risparmio di Carpi, Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto , Cassa di Risparmio di Trieste also joined the group in 1998–2000. A new subsidiary was also created in December 1999 which was named after the original Credito Italiano.

In 1999, UniCredito Italiano, as it was then known, began its expansion in Eastern Europe with the acquisition of Polish company Bank Pekao. On 30 June 2002, UniCredit started its S3 project which merged 7 of their bank network: Rolo Banca, Banca CRT, Cariverona Banca, Cassamarca, Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto and Cassa di Risparmio di Trieste into Credito Italiano and Credito Italiano was renamed into UniCredit Banca. UniCredit Private Banking and UniCredit Banca d'Impresa was spin off from it in 2003.

In 2005, UniCredit merged with the German group HypoVereinsbank, which is itself formed in 1998 by the combination of two Bavarian banks: Bayerische Vereinsbank and Bayerische Hypotheken-und Wechsel-Bank. Integration with the HVB Group was reinforced by the merger with Bank Austria Creditanstalt in the year 2000 and enabled further growth for the UniCredit Group.

Additionally, Bank Austria Creditanstalt was a major shareholder in Bank Medici AG. Bank Medici was Thema Fund's investment manager. In return for finding investors, Bank Medici collected fees of 4.6 million euros from Thema International Fund in 2007. Following the news that Bank Medici had invested US$2 billion with Bernard Madoff, officials in Vienna appointed a supervisor to run the private bank, raising questions about control of the sprawling group.

On 30 June 2005 Banca dell'Umbria and Cassa di Risparmio di Carpi were absorbed into the parent company. In 2006 the securities services business of UniCredit was sold to Société Générale for €579.3 million. In 2006, minority interests in the savings banks of Bra, Fossano, Saluzzo and Savigliano were sold for about €149 million to Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna.

In 2007, in combination with the Capitalia Group, the fourth-largest Italian banking group; UniCredit Group consolidated and strengthened its position, but added considerably to its overhead costs. The registered office of the bank was also relocated from Genoa to 17 via Minghetti, Rome.

In the same year, two more acquisitions were carried out: ATF Bank, which ranks fifth out of domestic banks in Kazakhstan with 154 branches, and Ukrsotsbank, a universal bank in Ukraine. With these two banks, the Group extended its operations in this area to 19 countries. However, in November 2012, Kazakh government sources declared UniCredit is in talks with Kazakh investors over the sale of a controlling stake in ATF Bank. In 2010, UniCredit S.p.A. absorbed its Italian banking subsidiaries: UniCredit Banca, Banca di Roma and Banco di Sicilia.

In 2013 UniCredit Finance reported that they would no longer provide banking services in Latvia. The next year, UniCredit announced that it expected to cut around 8,500 jobs in the future, together with the announcement of a $15 billion loss in the 4th quarter of 2013 due to extensive cash-reserving for bad loans and writing down goodwill from acquisitions. UniCredit is one of the 6 European banks which are currently most exposed to potential problems in emerging markets. 

In April 2015 UniCredit and Banco Santander reached a preliminary agreement to merge their asset-management businesses in a transaction valuing the combined entity at about €5.4 billion. The accord created a holding company called Pioneer Investments that is 50 percent owned by UniCredit and 50 percent held by the U.S. buyout firms Warburg Pincus LLC and General Atlantic LLC. The holding firm owns Pioneer's U.S. business and controls the combined operations of UniCredit's Pioneer, excluding its U.S. activities, and Santander Asset Management. The two leaders hold each one-third of the new combined business, while Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic own the rest. 

However, the deal was terminated on 27 July 2016. Nevertheless, Pioneer was sold in December 2016 to Amundi for €3.545 billion. UniCredit also received an extraordinary dividend of €315 million from Pioneer. From June 2015 to January 2017 UniCredit sold its NPLs that were doubtful to collect to various investors, namely PRA Group Europe, a fund managed by Cerberus Capital Management, a US fund, AnaCap Financial Partners, Fortress Investment Group and PIMCO, B2 Kapital and B2Holding. 

In October 2015, UniCredit also sold UniCredit Credit Management Bank, the subsidiary that specialized in managing NPLs to Fortress Investment Group and Prelios S.p.A. A portfolio of €2.4 billion NPLs was included in the deal. On a year-to-year basis, the net value of sofferenze had increased from €19.701 billion on 31 December 2014 to €19.924 billion on 31 December 2015. 

In December 2016 UniCredit sold Polish bank Bank Pekao. UniCredit had already sold part of the stake in FinecoBank in mid-2016, as well as sold Ukrainian bank Ukrsotsbank to Alfa Group in January 2016. Also in December 2016, the card business in Italy, Germany and Austria was sold to SIA for €500 million. That December, despite the annual European Central Bank Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process, lowed the CET1 ratio requirement of UniCredit from 9.75% to 8.75%, the bank announced a massive €13 billion recapitalization of the bank, as well as €8.1 billion loan loss provisions and net restructuring charges of €1.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016. 

In the 2016 European Union bank stress test announced on 29 July, UniCredit's CET1 ratio was predicted at 7.10% in the adverse scenario on 31 December 2018, which was the second last among the big 5 Italian banks that participated in the stress test. Based on the 2016 SREP, UniCredit Group has required a full load basis CET1 ratio of 10.5% from 1 January 2019 due to an increase in Capital Conservation Buffer and global systemically important bank buffer as required by CRR and CRD IV. 

Moreover, the pillar 2 guidance: the additional capital that ECB suggested the bank keep, remained confidential. In January 2017 10 old ordinary shares were combined into 1 new ordinary share, as well as bearer savings share and registered savings share. On April 6, 2017, UniCredit issued its first bond in the United States in a decade. In mid-2017, a capital increase was completed as well as securitization and partial disposal of the NPLs of the bank. In December 2017, the savings share of the bank was converted to the ordinary share, as well as a removal of the 5% cap on voting rights for each entity.

Since the 2010s, UniCredit has continued to make strategic investments, including in FinTech and Digital Banking, as well as expanding into the UK and Ireland. In 2020, the bank announced its intention to focus on “The North” - Italy, Germany, Austria, and Central and Eastern Europe - while continuing to expand its global reach. 

In 2021, UniCredit merged with Germany-based HypoVereinsbank to create the second-largest bank in Europe. Today, UniCredit serves over 30 million customers in 13+ countries and offers a wide range of retail, corporate, and investment banking services

UniCredit's mission statement highlights their focus on serving customers, developing their employees, promoting cooperation and generating synergies within the organization, managing risk, and executing their strategy with discipline.

The first priority for UniCredit is to serve their customers to the best of their ability. They place a high value on customer satisfaction and prioritize their needs above all else. The statement reflects their strong customer-centric culture.

UniCredit recognizes that their people are essential to achieving their mission. They aim to develop their employees to reach their full potential, which will ultimately contribute to the success of the organization. This shows their commitment to employee growth and development.

Cooperation and generating synergies are crucial to UniCredit's mission. They believe in working together as 'One Bank, One UniCredit' to provide the best possible services and achieve their common goals. This teamwork mindset is necessary to improve the efficiency of the organization and deliver the best results to customers.

UniCredit also acknowledges the importance of taking risks to achieve their goals. However, they do this in a responsible and disciplined manner, which demonstrates their commitment to managing risk effectively.

Lastly, UniCredit emphasizes executing their strategy with discipline. This implies that they have a clear strategic plan that is well-thought-out and designed to achieve their mission. They ensure that their strategy is well executed, and they are accountable for the results they produce.

UniCredit's vision is to be a single, united and successful pan-European commercial bank that provides its unique Western, Central and Eastern European network to its vast client base. The bank aims to streamline its operations to operate as "One Bank, One UniCredit" to offer comprehensive and unified services to its clients across different regions.

By leveraging its extensive network, the bank strives to provide tailored solutions to meet the needs of its customers, and offer products and services that meet the highest standards of excellence. UniCredit aims to maintain its position as a leading financial institution in Europe, and to deliver long-term value to all its stakeholders.

UniCredit offers a range of products and services across its network of branches and digital channels. Its core products and services include:

Retail banking: UniCredit provides banking services to individuals, including current accounts, credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, insurance products, and investment solutions.

Corporate banking: UniCredit offers a wide range of banking services to corporate clients, including cash management, trade finance, leasing, factoring, and capital markets solutions.

Investment banking: UniCredit's investment banking arm provides advisory and capital markets services, including mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets, structured finance, and project finance.

Asset management: UniCredit offers a range of investment solutions, including mutual funds, institutional mandates, and discretionary portfolio management services.

Private banking: UniCredit's private banking services cater to the needs of high net worth individuals, providing personalized wealth management and investment advice.

Digital banking: UniCredit has developed a range of digital banking services, including mobile banking apps, online banking, and remote advisory services, allowing customers to access their accounts and manage their finances from anywhere in the world.