The Board of Directors of UniCredit has approved today the launching of the project 'Together for our clients', which strengthens the Group's current divisional model.
The project, designed in light of the new economic and financial environment , aims to:
- Further increase customer satisfaction, through greater competence specialisation, greater simplicity and faster response time;
- Increase the proximity to the territories and communities where the Group operates, through a more effective and focused organisation and a greater network autonomy, also by granting further decision-making proxies.
The project will include the possible definition of four specialized business segments in Italy, Germany and Austria:
- Families, dedicated to private clients (retail);
- Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, for companies having an annual turnover of up to Euro 50 million;
- Corporate Banking, for companies having an annual turnover in excess of Euro 50 million;
- Private Banking, for clients having assets in excess of Euro 500.000.
"It is the natural progression of the path we began years ago - focusing on specialization in customer service - that, today, we are making even more accessible", said Dieter Rampl, Chairman of the Board of UniCredit. "This project will simplify our organisational set-up. More simplicity means less complexity, faster decision processes and more customer orientation."
In Italy, execution of the project could be supported by a different network and bank organisation throughout the territory - to be implemented thanks to a corporate governance simplification which foresees the merger into UniCredit S.p.A. of the main controlled banks-, as well as by setting up Territorial Areas, whose managers shall have the duty to act as point of reference for any relationships with the main local institutional stakeholders.
The contents of the project will be defined in the first months of 2010 and submitted to the decision of the company's Board of Directors at its next March meeting. It is foreseen that the project may be implemented starting from November 2010, subject to the release of the necessary authorisations by the competent Authorities.
Milan, 15 December 2009
Contacts:
Media Relations:
Tel. +39 02 88628236; e-mail: MediaRelations@unicreditgroup.eu
Investor Relations:
Tel. + 39 02 88628715; e-mail: InvestorRelations@unicreditgroup.eu