- 6 minuti fa
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00:04I think you heard both the minister and I said, saying that the talks had been constructive and positive.
00:12I think we have a lot of agreement, like in this situation, which are complicated.
00:17There are also some things that we need to iron out.
00:19But I think Unicredit has every intention to have a strong, constructive relationship with the German government.
00:28And we want the combination of Unicredit and Comrades Bank to happen in the best way possible.
00:37So there is a lot of agreement.
00:39I would say that, yes, discussion have touched headquarters.
00:43They have touched.
00:44Will it stay in Frankfurt?
00:45Will the listing stay?
00:47Well, it's premature for me to tell you, but I think we are flexible on that.
00:53We also have spoken about keeping the bank listed.
00:58respecting the history, commitment to the Mittelstand.
01:02You heard me.
01:02I went public with it.
01:03And I don't think there is any doubt about that.
01:06Social issues.
01:08And we think we have a good platform and a good base to discuss those.
01:12And therefore, I think all the elements that are on the table are achievable.
01:17You talked about the social issues.
01:19I think what you wanted to cut was something around 7,000 jobs.
01:24Unions are afraid it's going to be almost double of that.
01:27Where will the number land, do you think?
01:29So it won't be.
01:30I think there is when we commit something at Unicredit, we do it.
01:34So if we say we're going to cut X, we're going to cut X.
01:40Obviously, we want to discuss the way with the workers' representative.
01:46But fundamentally, a lot of what we're going to do is around investment and double down on Germany.
01:53We think there is a lot more opportunity on Germany than people see.
01:56We had that same position in 2020 when everybody said you cannot make money out of Germany.
02:03In this quarter, we have a return on equity that is almost 25%.
02:06So we're bullish about Germany.
02:09Yes, the transition is difficult.
02:12But after the transition, we're going to see a lot of growth and a lot of opportunities.
02:17And we want to be there in the difficult times to show what we can do.
02:21When will this be wrapped up?
02:22What's the timeline here?
02:23You still need more regulatory approval.
02:25There is an EGM that needs to happen.
02:28You're going to replace large parts of the supervisory board, the CO.
02:31When will that be finalized?
02:33The supervisory approvals or approvals in general are taking much less time than we originally anticipated.
02:41We're saying today that our best expectation of the moment is that we will get all approvals by the end
02:47of November.
02:48That would mean that we have a timeline where control will shift, governance will change,
02:54and we will be able to kick off Commerce Bank Unlocked, our plan, in the first quarter of 2027.
03:05How early or late?
03:07Still not clear.
03:08But we're quite optimistic that as we are on a very good trajectory on the rest of Unicredit,
03:15we have now time to also focus on engaging with Commerce Bank and making sure they do the same.
03:21Can you give Germany two seats on the supervisory board?
03:24Well, we don't discuss this detail, but they are being discussed.
03:29All right.
03:29Now that, in a way, the genie is out of the bottle, you've done this cross-border deal.
03:33You're very close to completing it.
03:35Are you hungry for more?
03:37No.
03:38I think our strategy since the beginning was predicated on generating the most shareholder value,
03:45not only in a quarter, not only in a year, but over time.
03:50Commerce Bank, with their German and Polish franchise, was a perfect fit to achieve full critical mass
03:58between the two banks in Germany and increased the contribution of Germany to the group
04:02and re-entering Poland, which for us was critical, given its connection to Germany and to the rest of CE
04:09and Italy as well.
04:10So, it did happen.
04:13That did not derail or affect in any way what Unicredit is delivering underneath.
04:20It won't.
04:22But this combination is actually, in my opinion, quite soft because we don't have a presence in Poland,
04:29so there's little to expect in terms of disruption.
04:32And in Germany, because of the complementarity of the two franchises.
04:36And I want to say my expectation that the culture of the two banks, of the people who work every
04:42day, is quite similar.
04:44We actually think there will be a lot less disruption than other people would hope.
04:48And therefore, it will be a positive, an opportunity to gain market share and not to lose it.
04:54I understand you've got your hands full with this transaction, but there's a lot happening here in Italy as well.
05:00And we got more news this morning.
05:03In terms of further growth, inorganic growth, would that be in Italy?
05:07Would that be across Europe?
05:09Because now you've set the precedent.
05:11European cross-border banking M&A, that can happen.
05:14And last year, you said you're kind of done here in Italy.
05:17So, can you clarify that?
05:19Yes.
05:20We said last year, and then we repeated before the summer, that we're just an observer.
05:24We also said before the summer that the deal we're discussing today was very likely to occur.
05:32We saw that as an opportunity, an opportunity to accelerate our organic growth.
05:37As you saw from our numbers, in the targeted segments, August to August, we won 130 business points of market
05:43share.
05:44This is unheard of in any market.
05:46The momentum at the moment is in excess of 10 business points per month.
05:51Our margins are flat.
05:52Our risk is improving.
05:54So, it is delivering.
05:56In that environment, the fact that now of the top seven banks in Italy, there is only one not engaged
06:03in M&A, not engaged in disruption, integration, bringing things together, antitrust remedies, means we have plenty of time and
06:16plenty of opportunity to accelerate further this growth.
06:21And the way we look at it internally, we're going to get to 15% market share, and we're going
06:26to do it without spending a penny of premium and actually generating a lot of value for our investors.
06:31So, observing is the right thing to do, and we're happy about that.
06:35We have our combination in Germany, we discussed that.
06:39We have the deal in CE, we discussed that as well.
06:43If in the future there are some targeted bolt-on in certain of our market, we'll look at it.
06:49But for us now, it's delivery, delivery, delivery.