"Unicredit is a large European bank", said the chairman Fabrizio Saccomanni and the managing director Jean-Pierre Mustier in unison, opening the shareholders' meeting called to approve a balance sheet, that of 2018, which registers the best operating performance for ten years and which places the institute in Piazza Gae Aulenti well ahead of the targets set by the Transform 2019 plan.
However, less positive news comes from the same Europe in which the heart of the business of a bank is located, which by now bills and makes more profit abroad than in Italy: on the eve of the shareholders' meeting, Unicredit in fact communicated that it had received last 31 January a “Statement of Objections” from Brussels in the context of an investigation by the European Commission concerning alleged violations of the Antitrust legislation in relation to European government bonds for periods between 2007 and 2012. Specifically, the Commission suspected that eight European banks had carteled to distort competition in dealing with European government bonds and investigated whether the employed traders exchanged sensitive information and coordinated their sales strategies.
"Should the Commission conclude that there is sufficient evidence of a violation of the law - reads the note from the Italian bank -, it may adopt a decision prohibiting the conduct in question and imposing the payment of a fine for a maximum amount of 10% of the turnover Society's World Year". That is, potentially equal, according to Unicredit's 2018 turnover, to almost 2 billion euros. Unicredit had access to all elements of the European Commission's file starting from 15 February 2019 and "following the analysis of the file, the bank no longer considers a cash outlay remote, but possible, although not probable aimed at paying a potential fine as a result of the outcome of the proceeding. On the basis of the information currently available, it is not possible to reliably quantify the amount of any fine at the date of this supplement". The deadline for the bank to submit a response to the objections raised is April 29, subject to possible extensions, the granting of which remains at the discretion of the Commission.
However, this is not the only "grievance" that enlivens the shareholders' meeting, which is held in Milan at the headquarters of the Italian Stock Exchange, in Palazzo Mezzanotte, where the CEO Mustier arrived aboard a red Fiat 500L, answering with a "no comment" to journalists who asked him to comment on the EU investigation. A group of institutional investors, including Schroders, Candriam and Storebrand, representing more than 1.400 trillion dollars, also called on the French manager to "adopt a general ban on the financing of companies that rely heavily on coal mining or coal-fired electricity, ban the long-term financing of infrastructure and projects related to coal mines and coal-fired power plants around the world and adopt a clear and defined plan over time for phase out current exposure to coal assets".
The Ad Mustier, opening the proceedings, initially confined himself to reminding the shareholders' meeting of the results achieved so far: “We are ahead of the 2019 Transform plan targets”, began the manager, who will present the new strategic plan in London next December, “the ratio between gross non-performing loans and total gross loans has fallen to 4,1%, now very close to the EBA average. We have already carried out 93% of the 944 branch closures programmed in the plan, and thanks to this, operating costs have already fallen below the 11 billion target. In addition, adjusted earnings have increased compared to 2017 and we have proposed the distribution of a dividend of €0,27 per share”.
"Molto rumore per nulla – Mustier then reiterated, quoting Shakespeare, in a press conference with journalists during the break in the meeting -. We do not comment on the European Commission's investigation, nor on rumors of a merger between Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. I can only say that in Germany we have grown a lot and our business with the subsidiary Hvb is solid". During the conference, President Saccomanni also spoke on more general questions: “The Italian economy has good fundamentals and we support them. The relationship with all the governments in the countries where we work, including Italy, is good. The alarm launched by the IMF on the banks? It's a bit exaggerated." The news of the EU investigation, which had worried investors in the morning (the Unicredit share had come to lose more than 2%), was therefore minimized by Mustier, which reassured the Stock Exchange, where in the early afternoon the share recovered in positive territory.
The article was updated at 13.40 on Thursday 11 April
