At the end of the festivities celebrating UniCredit's 15th anniversary,
a meeting to reflect and an exhibition to trace
the bank's past, present and future
The concluding event of the celebrations for UniCredit's 15th anniversary, entitled "UniCredit's 15th anniversary: past and future", was held today at the UniCredit Tower in Milan, with Giuseppe Vita, UniCredit Chairman; Maria Elena Boschi, Minister for Constitutional Reform and Parliamentary Relations; Piero Barucci, former Minister of the Treasury; Fabrizio Saccomanni, former Minister of the Economy and Finance; and Federico Ghizzoni, UniCredit Chief Executive Officer in attendance.
It was an opportunity to reflect on the evolution of a young group with deep roots, which includes the oldest joint-stock banking company in existence in Italy (since 1870, the former Banca di Genova) and which, over time, has incorporated even more long-lived organisations, including the Rolo Banca, founded 541 years ago, and the German Bayerische Hypotheken-und Wechselbank, established 179 years ago and which then merged into the HVB Group. It was in fact in 1999 when, with the entrance of Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto and Cassa di Risparmio di Trieste into UniCredito Italiano, the incorporation of local banks was completed and, with the acquisition of the Polish Bank Pekao, the business' path of geographic growth and diversification began. Today, this makes UniCredit a reference bank in Italy and Europe.
At the end of the meeting, the temporary exhibition "Roots in the Future" was inaugurated. Over fifty mementoes of the bank's past including old documents, cheques and savings books, electronic calculators ancestors of the modern-day computers, tools from the desks of the first cashiers and old photographs will be juxtaposed with state-of-the-art instruments, technological innovations and prototypes of projects focused on the future, testifying to UniCredit's mission to be a bank constantly in step with the times.
The exhibition will be open to the public on 8 and 9 November, during the upcoming UniCredit Tower Open Day (open from 10:00 to 18:15, last entrance at 17:30. Booking compulsory, call 0288624385, subject to availability). Video and image gallery available on: http://goo.gl/DbCcBU http://goo.gl/QurmhA
The meeting and the exhibition close the celebrations for UniCredit's 15th anniversary, which started with the inauguration of the UniCredit Group's new headquarters in Piazza Gae Aulenti and the opening of the first flagship agency, and continued with the two MusicStreets concerts in the square and the Tower Parade initiative, which decorated the streets of Milan this summer with miniatures of the UniCredit Tower, illustrated by creative young people and designers.
Milan, November 4, 2014