CEE remains a driver of growth for UniCredit; two out of three corporate clients choose UniCredit Bulbank as financial partner in CEE;

Innovations and digitalization remain an important focus for Unicredit: the Group announced it will invest nearly EUR 200 million in financial startups worldwide in partnership with Anthemis Group

UniCredit reported a profit of EUR 1.7 billion for 2015, exceeding the expectations of market analysts. The consensus forecast for the profit was for EUR 1.4 billion for last year. The results were approved today by the Board of Directors of the leading European bank.

“We have proved our capacity to generate organic growth by strengthening also our capital indicators. Core Equity Tier 1 is close to 11%, already above the regulatory requirements for 2018. This is a remarkable result considering the challenging macroeconomic environment in Europe. The implementation of the Strategic Plan is well on track. In recent months, we finalized some important agreements in Austria and Ukraine. At the same time we are strongly committed to cost reduction. Asset quality is improving and bad loans are firmly under control with high coverage ratios.”, commented Federico Ghizzoni, CEO of UniCredit.

The financial result of UniCredit for 2015 has been influenced by several one-off effects from the last quarter of last year related to Ukraine, Austria, Russia, etc. A big share of the one-off effects is part of the implementation of the Strategic Plan which was announced in November 2015.

The 2015 Group revenues remain at a level of nearly EUR 22 billion. The costs on an annual basis amount to EUR 16.3 billion, close to the 2014 levels. Besides the capital indicators, the asset quality is also improving.

One million new clients have chosen UniCredit as their bank in the course of last year and thus the number of clients has reached more than 32 million at the end of the year.

The CEE region remains a strong driver of growth for UniCredit. Two out of three corporate clients choose Unicredit as financial partner in CEE.

Investing in digitalization and innovations remains a strategic focus. Today UniCredit announced it will invest nearly EUR 200 million in financial startups worldwide in partnership with Anthemis Group, a strong international investment and consulting company focused on the innovations in the financial industry. These strategic investments will turn the financial technology companies (fintech) into an opportunity for the Group to improve its proposals to clients and to turn the digital evolution plans into reality.

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

Viktoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch