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>> Reports on Operations
Central Eastern Europe (CEE)
UniCredit Czech Republic, the 4 th largest bank in the country, managed to get successfully through the
crisis in 2009 with a focus on value creation and self-financing capability. The bank maintained its leading
position in the Corporate Segment in 2009 leveraging on the group’s approach towards multinational and
cross-border clients. International markets contributed significantly to the bank’s revenues by using
upcoming market opportunities in FX, interest and credit trading. In Retail, the bank further pursued its
strategy for affluent and small business clients.
2009 was a challenging year for UniCredit Bank Slovakia. Apart from the worldwide economic downturn,
euro adoption on January 1, 2009 and the application of the new SEPA rules also had a major negative
impact on the results of the bank. New products, an even more disciplined margin policy and better
processes could partly offset reduced revenues.
Within the economic recession, a major focus of UniCredit Bank Hungary was the generation of deposits,
bringing the loan/deposit ratio to below 100% compared to 137 % a year before. Excellent revenues and
the outperformance of business segments coupled with strict cost management ensured a 27% increase
in gross operating profit y/y. Substantially higher loan loss provisions and the one-off revenues on the
sale of the shares in the Budapest Stock Exchange in 2008 lead to a decline in pre-tax Profit by 47%.
Efficiency remained in the forefront of the bank, which was proved by the excellent cost/income ratio of
44%.
Also in Slovenia, the results of UniCredit bank were influenced by the negative environment. While
revenues were slightly higher than 2008, costs also increased due to higher depreciation resulting from
the branch expansion in 2008. Operating profit was on the level of the previous year, but a pronounced
increase in net write-downs on loans lead to profit before taxes of €11m, halving in value y/y.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, UniCredit is one of leading banking groups in the country, being present
with two banks. Overall, despite a difficult economic climate, revenues almost reached 2008 levels and,
due to strict cost management, expenses decreased by 3%. UniCredit Bank d.d., based in Mostar, is one
of the largest banks and currently operates a network of 96 branches. The Group‘s presence in the
country is complemented by UniCredit Bank a.d. Banja Luka. Together, both banks serve more than one
million customers in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
UniCredit Bank Serbia further improved its market position with a 6% market share. At constant
exchange rates, the bank managed to reach the same result as in 2008 despite significantly higher loan
loss provisions, significantly outperforming the market. The loan to deposit ratio and the cost income ratio
improved as well despite the full-year impact of opening 22 branches in 2008.
Also in Romania the 2009 recession made its mark on banking. UniCredit Tiriac deleveraged significantly
reducing its loan-to-deposit ratio to 108% from 140% at the end of the previous year through a 23%
increase in customer deposits. The bank registered 14% growth in operating profit to RON 651mn
(€152mn) driven by 9% increase in revenues and less than 4% growth in operational expenses. This
includes also the full year impact of over 100 branches opened in 2008; the bank closed the year with 241
outlets. Nevertheless efficiency further improved to below 48% versus 50% last year as a result of
optimization and consolidation actions. The number of employees was reduced by 8% to below 3,000 at
the end of the year due to natural turnover, which normalized to below 8%. Net profit reached RON
335mn (€78mn), less than 7% below 2008, a leading performance in the local market within the crisis
context.