Although UniCredit’s significant merger with Capitalia was only announced this year, The Banker’s judges had to take notice of it because it will strengthen the retail penetration of the new group in Italy and create a bank with the highest number of branches in northern and central Italy and the second largest in the south and the islands. The combined group will also gain competitiveness in the country’s attractive segments of consumer lending, leasing and personal financial advisory while increasing the scale of the asset management and investment banking businesses.
“I would like to dedicate this award to all my colleagues at UniCredit Group, in the 23 European countries where we are operating,” says chief executive Alessandro Profumo. “We consider UniCredit Group as the first truly European bank, in the sense that we have strong historic roots in all of the major countries where we operate. Embracing that diversity and putting the collective knowledge of our people at the service of all our customers is what makes us strong and unique. That, and our strong emphasis on governance, integrity and social responsibility, which we see as the engine for enabling sustainability in our business and in providing value to our customers, shareholders and to society.
“Two years ago, we completed the biggest cross-border deal ever done in Europe in the financial sector. The commitment and professionalism of our people and their willingness to embrace change and challenges allowed us to conclude our integration ahead of schedule. At the same time, their commitment allowed us to achieve excellent business results and enabled the group to carry out the merger with Capitalia in Italy – one of our core markets – which bolstered UniCredit amid the top league banking groups in Europe.”
