OREANDA-NEWS. April 29, 2010. The Board of Directors of UniCredit approved the “One for Clients” project and the merger of seven subsidiary banks (UniCredit Banca, UniCredit Banca di Roma, Banco di Sicilia, UniCredit Corporate Banking, UniCredit Private Banking, UniCredit Family Financing Bank, UniCredit Bancassurance Management & Administration) with the parent company, UniCredit Spa.

The project “One for Clients” is designed to further increase customer satisfaction through specialization and quicker response times. Today’s decision will allow for a simplification of the Group structure, increasing its proximity to territories and communities, safeguarding the most important brands (UniCredit Banca, UniCredit Banca di Roma, Banco di Sicilia). Furthermore, the project will ensure a more efficient organization granting additional authority to the networks.

Dieter Rampl, Chairman of UniCredit comments: "The Board of Directors approved today the project as we believe that combining the specialization of our businesses with our strong geographical roots is the key strength of any international corporation”.

Similar to the structure that currently exists in Austria, Germany and Poland, the Board has also decided to appoint a Country Chairman for Italy. His role will be to act as a point of reference for the Group’s activities in the Italian market and to coordinate its territorial strategies. He will have co-responsibility for the business results together with the Italian Network Heads.

As Country Chairman for Italy Gabriele Piccini, currently CEO of UniCredit Banca and Head of Italy Retail Network, has been appointed. Piccini will be in charge as Country Chairman effective November 1, 2010, the kick-off date for the new organization. He will report to Deputy CEO Roberto Nicastro.

The Country Chairmen of Germany and Austria will report to Deputy CEO Sergio Ermotti, while those of the CEE-countries will report to Federico Ghizzoni, Head of CEE Banking Operations.

“Thanks to this new organization ,” Alessandro Profumo, CEO of UniCredit declared, “our company will be more focused on our customers and closer to the territories and local communities. We are therefore prepared to deal with the challenges that modern banking has to face today."

The project, which has been designed under the leadership of Deputy CEO Paolo Fiorentino,,strengthens the current divisional model of the Group, will create four specialized business segments in Italy, Austria and Germany, as follows:

Families, dedicated to private customers with assets up to € 500,000;

SMEs, for companies with yearly turnover up to € 50 million;

Corporate Banking, for companies with yearly turnover over € 50 million;

Private Banking, for customers with assets above € 500 thousand.

Seven Territorial Areas will be set up in Italy. The task of the managers of these areas – the Heads of Territories - will be to act as points of reference for relations with major local institutional partners, within an Italian Network Committee chaired by the Country Chairman, in which the three Italian Network Heads and the Head of the Territorial Relations Department will participate.

On August 3, 2010, the Board of Directors will resolve on the merger that is expected to become effective as of November 1, 2010, subject to the required authorizations by competent authorities.