The announcement follows the decision of the Board of Directors to increase the capital with EUR4 billion

The international rating agency Standard and Poor’s affirms the long-term and short-term ratings (A/A1). Outlook remains stable

UniCredit announces that today the rating agency Standard & Poor's, following the proposal for a capital increase resolved by the Board of Directors of UniCredit on September 29, affirmed the long-term and short-term ratings (A/A-1). Outlook is stable.

The Board of Directors of UniCredit approved unanimously a proposal for increase of the Group’s capital with EUR 4 billion with the issue of new common shares. Thus the Group’s capital base will additionally increase with 80 basis points. As of end June 2009 the Core Tier 1 stood at 6.85%.

UniCredit confirms that the aim of the capital increase is to support the countries in which it is active and to develop lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, individual clients and households.

With the decision to increase its capital, UniCredit reestablishes its role of a leading bank in Europe and among the first institutions to fulfill the requirements of G20 (the 19-th biggest world economies plus the EU), the local and the international financial regulators.

Standard & Poor's Rating October 1, 2009

About UniCredit Group:

UniCredit Group is a leading international banking group with strong presence in 22 European countries as well as representative offices on 27 other markets, with more than 40 mio clients and more than 10,200 branches and approximately 174 thousand employees.

In the region of Central and Eastern Europe UniCredit has the biggest international network with over 4 thousand branches and offices where around 78 thousand employees service more than 28 mio clients.

In Bulgaria UniCredit Group is represented by the biggest bank in terms of assets UniCredit Bulbank (with around 260 branches and 4000 employees), UniCredit Leasing, UniCredit Factoring, UniCredit Consumer Financing and Pioneer Investments.