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UniCredit is setting out its new strategy under Andrea Orcel, who took the helm in April. The former head of investment banking at UBS has pledged to boost profitability after Italy’s second-biggest bank restructured under previous CEO Jean Pierre Mustier.
UniCredit’s shares were up 5.5% by 0918 GMT, triggering an automatic trading suspension. The stock is still well below pre-COVID levels and trades at a discount versus peers after the pandemic derailed Mustier’s capital distribution plans.
UniCredit said it planned to pay out at least 16 billion euros to shareholders between 2021 and 2024 through cash dividends and share buybacks, starting with 3.7 billion euros in 2022 in relation to this year’s results.
The bank said it saw its 2022 net profit above 3.3 billion euros, virtually unchanged from its latest guidance for 2021 based on its new definition of net income.
($1 = 0.8834 euros)
