Milan, 26 May 2023 – UniCredit and Mastercard today announce a global expansion of their payment partnership. 

The agreement sets the stage for the start of a strong partnership consistent with UniCredit Unlocked strategy. This is the first time any a large commercial bank has put in place a single card multi market strategy of this scale in Europe. It brings together in one agreement UniCredit’s ability to harness the collective weight of our 13 banks as one institution with Mastercard’s expertise in the card payment space. The significant broadening of the parties’ relationship will deliver payment innovation and enhanced digital experiences to customers. 

This enhanced multi-year partnership provides the necessary resources to achieve a shared ambition to increase the speed of innovation in the payments space and put the customers at the center. It enables UniCredit to provide a best in class offering for all cardholder needs, delivering a simplified core product proposition, optimized digital experience with a full suite of in-app solutions and the development of a dedicated approach for innovation, increasing payment choice to customers, across multiple payments rails.

Both parties’ commitment to increase their tangible actions across environmental and social sustainability, will also be enhanced through this partnership. Insight and resources will be combined with a particular focus on the implementation of new projects on common ESG goals, developing solutions to support empowering communities to progress, fighting climate change with mindful spending choices and the ability to contribute tangibly to environmental goals integrating donations in the everyday spend.

This partnership is a tangible example of the execution of UniCredit Unlocked MYP 2022-2024, uniting across our 13 banks to deliver value for UniCredit stakeholders in a capital-light manner, taking opportunity from its European DNA but working as a unified group. It is the most immediate manifestation of the opportunities within payments, which we are working to further extract value from in terms of product simplification, cost synergies and digital transformation. 

The partnership is multi-year and will focus on supporting the delivery of the bank’s strategic priorities such as digitalization of payments solutions, offering multi functioning solutions with a fully equipped card, aligning with UniCredit’s brand attributes to build increased preference and loyalty across the consumer lifecycle, enriching bank wide opportunities thanks to Mastercard’s strong award-winning Priceless brand platform and sponsorship marketing assets.

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

Andrea Orcel Quote “This partnership epitomizes the essence of UniCredit Unlocked and our commitment to leverage the full impact of our multi market footprint as one complete offering for the benefit of our clients.  Our geographical reach and Mastercard’s expertise in this space enables us to not only streamline our partnerships and contracts, but enhance our digital, security and product offering for all our current and future cardholders. This is a perfect example of the new way of managing projects in UniCredit, bringing benefits to all legal entities in a disciplined way and acting as a single company.” 

Quote Partner “UniCredit has been an important partner for many years. Together we have created real solutions that help people and businesses across Europe. This expanded relationship will build on that experience to bring new innovations to UniCredit cardholders,” said Michael Miebach, Mastercard CEO