The Group continues with its efforts for cost reduction, simplification of the operations processes and digitalization of the services;

The CEE Region remains a powerful engine of growth for UniCredit with a net profit of 285 million euro for the first quarter of the year.

UniCredit announced a net profit of 406 million euro for the first quarter of 2016, which is higher than the expectations of the market analysts. The consensus forecast about the profit was for 360 million euro for the period. The results were published in the Q1 2016 report of the leading European bank. The net profit of UniCredit has reached over 640 million euro excluding one-off items related to costs for restructuring in Austria and Italy.

“In the first quarter of 2016, we reported a significantly higher net profit versus the previous quarter of above €640 m excluding negative one-off items, despite an extremely challenging financial environment. Our capital ratios confirm the solidity of our Group and our asset quality continues to improve: impaired loans continuously decrease, net bad loans are stable with a coverage ratio above 61%, the highest among Italian banks. The business performance is more than satisfactory, as reflected in the growth trend of loans and deposits. UniCredit is highly committed to support the economy in all its geographical constituencies: new loans origination reached €15 bn in the first quarter. UniCredit’s pan-European footprint is a key strength ensuring steady businessgrowth. The implementation of our Strategic Plan is on track: we already achieved tangible results in terms of cost reduction and we are progressing well in the digital transformation of the bank”, commented Federico Ghizzoni, Chief Executive Officer of UniCredit.

The net operating profit reached 1.4 billion euro thanks to stable revenues of 5.5 billion euro and low operating costs (3.3 billion euro, decreasing by 3.7% on an annual basis). The indicator Core Equity Tier 1 is nearly 11%, which is above the regulatory requirements for 2018.

The CEE Region remains a powerful engine of growth for UniCredit with a net profit of 285 million euro for the first quarter of the year. The greatest contributors to the financial results of the region are Turkey (72 million euro) and the Czech Republic and Slovakia (49 million euro in total). Bulgaria, too, has positive results (46 million euro and growth by 48.4% in on a quarterly basis and by 8.1% on an annual basis) and Russia (45 million euro).

The Group continues with its efforts for cost reduction, simplification of the operations processes and digitalization of the services; The users of the online banking of UniCredit are 10.5 million and those of the mobile banking – 4.3 million (increase by nearly 50% in comparison with the end of 2014). New services for mobile banking have been introduced in Italy (for management of personal finances and opening of accounts), Germany (new banking application) and Poland (improved payment services). Also the automation of the bank branches with new self-service possibilities is under way.

UniCredit is continuing its work on two key projects for digitalization of the business model – buddybank (the first "molecular" bank) and UniCredit evo (a joint investment project with the international investment and consultancy company Anthemis Group).

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

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

Beatris Nikolova, Phone: +359 2 9232 528, cfbusjt/ojlpmpwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch