Strategic investments in digital and payments pay dividends for UniCredit at The Banker's 2023 Transaction Banking Awards and Innovation in Digital Banking Awards
UniCredit has been named Best Bank for Innovation in Digital Banking, Western Europe and Best Bank for Payments, a global award, by The Banker as part of its Innovation in Digital Banking and Transaction Banking Awards programmes.
The double win underscores the bank's commitment to the UniCredit Unlocked strategy, which positions both digital transformation and payments as key priorities.
"This award stands as recognition of our bold strategy, which prioritises patient and comprehensive transformation - of both our technology and our underlying processes - over short-term product releases," says Giovanni Damiani, Deputy Group Digital & Information Officer at UniCredit, commenting on the digital win. "It also marks a transitional moment as we progress to the next stage of our digital evolution, where our foundational investments will serve as a platform to drive maximum value from exciting technologies such as cloud, data and AI. We look forward to further success in this next stage and are excited for what we can achieve."
Over the past 12 months, UniCredit has continued to optimise its digital and data infrastructure, while simultaneously working to streamline operational processes in order to fully profit from digital efficiencies. This has included reshaping the bank's infrastructure based on cloud technology and APIs, and implementing common standards across the Group to ensure solutions can be easily reused and adapted across different business lines and geographies.
Payments is another key focus for the bank, as it has looked to double down on capital-light business models. With this in mind, UniCredit has reorganised its resources to create a new Global Payment Solutions team, with a particular focus on meeting rising customer demands for international and real-time payments, and leveraging on digital investments to generate significant improvements in terms of client experience, risk management and cost-efficiency.
"We are keeping our clients at the centre of everything we do. This means being able to adapt and evolve rapidly alongside their needs, something even more critical when it comes to payments - an area that is subject to constant evolution," says Raphael Barisaac, Global Head of Payments & Cash Management. "Thanks to our new Global Payment Solutions business line, we are continuing our journey towards simplification via the expansion of our digital tools and payment solutions for individuals up to multinationals - now allowing all our clients to execute frictionless payments. In doing so, we are able to stay close to our clients' businesses and tangibly support the real economy."
These awards add to the growing list of wins for the bank in both the digital and transaction banking fields. In addition to recent recognition for the bank's digital initiatives from the likes of the Italian Banking Association (ABI) and Milano Finanza, the bank has also picked up awards for Best Fintech Collaboration (from Treasury Management International), Best Trade Finance Provider in Western Europe (from Global Finance) and Best Bank for Transaction Services in CEE (from Euromoney).
Milan, 4 September 2023
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