Chairman's Letter

Dear Shareholders,

It is a pleasure to write to you as the Chairman of the UniCredit Board.

In 2025, we look ahead to a horizon that promises a great deal of change. At the same time, we are still under the long shadow of the many changes in the macroeconomic environment that have rocked the world since we first put out our strategic plan, UniCredit Unlocked, into action.

Global growth has been stifled by multiple wars compounding an already fraught macroeconomic environment post-pandemic. Globalisation is fracturing increasingly under this pressure.

While there is optimism among the investor community about America’s economy, recent political developments and their implications for how we address macro issues like climate change contribute to the pervasive feeling of uncertainty.

In short, the clouds over Europe and the world have not cleared, and we are not sure when they will. Dynamism, innovation, and resilience are not only key to businesses enduring in these circumstances, they are also essential for continuing to support the communities that rely on these businesses.

UniCredit continues to prove itself as an exemplary European business; the type our continent needs, according to Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta’s reports on the state of European competitiveness and the Single Market. UniCredit is a dynamic business embracing innovation and keeping clients at the centre of everything we do, unlocking value while ensuring that our communities are supported.

We have a proven model for resilience and delivery under macro-economic pressure, as is clear from our results of the last four years. After 16 consecutive quarters of quality growth, we are preparing to move into a new era where we use this momentum to achieve even greater success for the clients and communities we serve.

The businesses we support are key to the prosperity of our communities, because they contribute to the competitiveness of those communities and our bloc as a whole.

By deepening the markets we serve in Europe, while also leveraging on the creation of continental banks, we – as a banking Group – can play an all-important role as the driving force of our continent’s competitiveness, serving companies to the best of our ability and efficiently serving retails, so they can channel their savings into the economy.

We have the leverage in our pan-European banking network, the Strategy, the energy, and the ambition, to help our continent steer a course out of these years of stagnation and stalling and into a new era of prosperity. We can help our bloc become a true rival to the likes of the US.

Our strong position is supported by our adoption of a new governance system. Operating under the mandate of a new Board of Directors, we will continuously improve our processes in the same spirit of always striving to do better and deliver our best that has defined UniCredit’s industrial Strategy since the launch of our transformation.

Under the leadership of our CEO, Andrea Orcel, who is working with the Board and our strong management team to deliver this transformation successfully, we will unlock new growth organically and, where they arise, seize opportunities for inorganic growth that will support our trajectory.

We will build the strength of our international profile, having already built ourselves a strong foundation with two core markets in Italy and Germany, demonstrating the value of our status as a pan-European bank.

Though the economic picture is not what we would want it to be for Europe, we have built our resilience as an institution to be able to navigate what comes and, most importantly, remain firmly by our clients to help them achieve success. In this sense, the prospects for us are positive.

We are ready to take the necessary steps to strengthen our position – through technological innovation, for example – and deliver sustainable results, so the clients and communities we serve can navigate a course through these difficult times as well. Our service to them remains at the centre of everything we do.

Our greatest asset in achieving this will be our people’s continuous commitment to our strategic Vision, our Purpose, and our Culture. It is their dedication that has brought us this far, and this is reflected in our most recent results. I wish to congratulate and thank all of them for their hard work. Their continued dedication will empower us to push the bar even further.

There are great things for us on the horizon, if we seize this opportunity now.

Thank you,

Pietro Carlo Padoan
Chairman UniCredit S.p.A.