Unicredit, all the latest moves of Orcel
Facts, numbers and scenarios on Unicredit. The article by Emanuela Rossi
Growing dividends, declining consultancy, looking for partnerships and acquisitions to grow the offer. The latest moves by Andrea Orcel, the CEO who has led Unicredit since April 2021 and who, as Milano Finanza recalls, "has increased the prices, given satisfaction to the shareholders, overcome the obstacles of Russia and brought Unicredit to over 30 billion capitalization”.
Meanwhile, the accounts for 2022 are expected next Tuesday. In the meantime, Citi has raised the target price as for Intesa Sanpaolo.
REMUNERATION AND CUTS
Within a few days, information on the costs incurred also arrived directly or indirectly from Unicredit.
And here is a group attentive to the pockets of the members and less to those of the outsiders. Interviewed in Davos by Bloomberg TV , Orcel highlighted that – as regards the remuneration of shareholders through the dividend and the buyback – “we have the ambition that it is in line with or higher than in 2021. From the nine-month numbers I would say that be superior".
Only a few days later, according to rumors from the Financial Times reported by Ansa , it was learned that since his arrival (April 2021) the CEO has reduced the cost of external consultants by at least 75 million euros. The largest reductions, according to the business newspaper, concerned commissions paid to investment banks and companies such as McKinsey and BCG for operational and strategic consultancy. The sudden loss of revenue would have caused strong discontent in the companies which, moreover, have long-standing relationships with Piazza Gae Aulenti. According to the Ft , the objective of the Roman manager would be to reduce expenses (by 1.5 billion) and to eliminate dependence on external expertise, making Unicredit autonomous.
THE PARTNERSHIP WITH AZIMUTH
To increase revenues – and develop the asset management strategy – Unicredit has also worked hard with Azimut with whom it has signed a commercial partnership. The note released by the banking group highlights that a letter of intent was signed which defines the fundamental principles for the distribution of new asset management products in Italy.
The partnership will allow Unicredit to extend its offer, including the potential distribution of its banking products to Azimut, and to enhance its asset management activities for the benefit of customers. Azimut, for its part, will independently set up and manage a management company in Ireland which will develop investment products to be distributed in Italy through the Unicredit network on a non-exclusive basis. The launch of the funds for Italian clients is scheduled for the second half of 2023. Under the agreements, Unicredit will have the right to exercise a call option on the Irish management company in 5 years or sooner. In this case, the bank will be able to count on its own high-value product factory which will be added to the onemarkets Fund platform and other asset management entities that are already part of the group.
“I am delighted to see the partnership with Azimut come to fruition, this is an important step in our strategy aimed at building and expanding the partner ecosystem to better serve the needs of customers” commented Orcel according to whom the partnership “will not only allow us to expand and improve the offer to customers but also demonstrates our commitment to strengthening the asset management industry in Italy. As a bank, we constantly aim to generate added value for our stakeholders, while supporting the markets in which we operate, in this case the national asset management market".
THE PURCHASE MAYBE SHADED BELIEVE ME
Still uncertain, however, the match Believe me for which Unicredit). We are talking about the purchase of the Milanese fintech founded by Ignazio Rocco di Torrepadula, which since 2017 has received 100,000 requests for funding and disbursed loans for over 2 billion. However, according to what was stated by Mf, Unicredit would have put on the plate "a figure close to 20 million euros" and Banco Bpm, Intesa Sanpaolo and Ion would also be interested in the dossier.
At a certain point, however, CF+ , the challenger bank born last year from the split of the former Credito Fondiario, took the lead.
Now we need to wait for the Trust me board to understand how it will end.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/unicredit-tutte-le-ultime-mosse-di-orcel/ on Mon, 30 Jan 2023 06:22:02 +0000.