Unicredit: 18,200 cuts in personnel by 2018, 6,900 in Italy – AGI – Agenzia Journalistic Italy

21:30 November 11, 2015

(AGI) – Milan, Nov. 11 – Drastic reduction of the workforce, not goodbye to business performance, strengthening of the functions of government in Italy. Unicredit page turns and launches a plan for the CEO, Federico Ghizzoni, and ” serious, rigorous, realistic and self-financed. ” Are 18,200 jobs that will be cut in the group by 2018 in ‘corporate centers’ and the network, and of these 6,900 will be in Italy, between outputs and real business to be divested. The institution must ‘actually’ manage with unions in Italy about 3,200 outlets, of which ‘only’ 550 new; the numbers presented today include 2,400 redundancies in fact already ‘agreed with the representatives of workers, in addition to the 713 employees of UCCMB (sold in Prelios and Fortress), to 200-300 people working abroad and a group of non-turnover. “They will be managed with the usual approach of early retirement. If they are only volunteers are things we need to discuss with the union,” said Ghizzoni, inviting representatives of employees, already ‘on the barricades, “not to put your head in the sand.” As for the other cuts, 4,000 were sale of the Ukrainian subsidiary of waiting and 2,000 to the deconsolidation of Pioneer, for the joint venture with Santander (the two companies ‘signed the binding agreement and the closing of the transaction and’ waiting in the first half ‘of 2016); 2,300 outputs will be in Germany, 2,000 in Austria and 1,100 in the other division Cee, asset management and asset gathering. Savings of € 1.6 billion will enable UniCredit to get to a net profit of 5.3 billion euro in 2018 (the forecast of the plan presented at the beginning of 2014 was 6.6 billion euro); the common equity Tier 1 ratio at the end of plan will ‘to 12.6% “due to the organic generation of capital”.
As between the shareholders there are no commitments, pending the outcome of the’ SREP ‘of the ECB, but the bank has the potential to pay 4.8 billion euro coupon ‘cash’ accumulated over the plan, a figure that can ‘go up to 9 billion with the option of’ strip dividend ‘(the cash coupon or in actions already ‘proposal in 2013 and 2014). The plan is intended to “dispel the uncertainty on the final capital of Unicredit,” that will not do ‘capital increases, clarified Ghizzoni. Another “case closed” and ‘one of the investigations that involved the vice president Fabrizio Palenzona: a story that “has created irritation not only shareholders, but also to myself,” said the CEO. Unicredit, finished “on average for non-existent facts. As for his personal position, Ghizzoni to the floor and not ‘the’ acid test ‘:” I do not create any anxiety be evaluated by shareholders – noted – we must be calm and generate value, then shareholders will evaluate the best for the bank, not for individuals. “
The new plan, says Unicredit, responds to a new macro-economic and regulatory changes that have impacted the banking sector. The ‘institution, clarified Ghizzoni, “does not intend to give up being a pan-European bank”; the focus between now and 2018 will be’ on profitability ‘, to be achieved through cost cutting, the concentration on the potential of asset management and the’ wealth management ‘Western Europe, the acceleration of growth in Central and Eastern Europe, risk reduction and portfolio’ non-core ‘. In the organization, top management will point’ to simplify the structure, disappears the sub-holding and the Austrian, by the end of 2016, all shares in CEE will report to headquarters in Milan. On the disposal, Unicredit ‘continue’ to monitor the portfolio of activities ” to exit the business, “non-performing”; It start ‘from the activities’ in Austria and the retail leasing in Italy, whose future will be decided “by the end of 2016″, while and’ excluded the sale of Fineco. By 2018 will also cut another 800 branches in Italy (150-200), Germany and Austria. For Ghizzoni, and ” a plan strict and serious at the same time ambitious “:” And ‘especially realistic – said -’ cause it is based on actions that depend on our choices and managerial and ‘totally self-financed. We are therefore fully confident about its realization. ” In the meantime, the bank closed the first nine months of 2015 with a net profit of 1.5 billion euro, down 16.1% due to write-downs in Ukraine and adjustments on mortgages in Swiss francs in Croatia; the quarter exceeded but ‘analysts’ estimates, with 507 million euro profit. (AGI).