• Initiative reflects the bank’s ongoing efforts to simplify its operations and evolve its securities set-up
• Over 200 jobs created in total, including more than 140 in Germany and 60 in Italy

UniCredit has announced plans to bring its back-office activities for securities services across Italy and Germany in house, standardising its set-up and suppliers in a move that is set to create over 200 new jobs.

The internalisation will involve building out a back-office platform for the bank’s custody services business, initially focused on Germany, while staffing teams to manage these operations in house – creating more than 140 new jobs in Germany, where the service was previously mostly outsourced. There will also be a further 60 roles created in Italy, drawing on both the market and the bank’s reskilling programme agreed with the trade unions.

The move comes as part of a Group-wide optimisation of the bank’s securities set-up, aiming to create a standardised approach across Italy and Germany, underpinned by common partners and a modern platform. This will, in turn, provide a more secure, flexible and cost-efficient foundation for the delivery of the bank’s custody services, bringing the teams closer to their clients and enabling them to be more agile and impactful in their execution.

The bank is in close contact with the relevant Works Councils to define the necessary next steps together.

Commenting on the initiative, Richard Burton, UniCredit’s Head of Client Solutions, said: “We continue to focus on the simplification of our business – internalising value chains and leveraging our scale so we can become more impactful on behalf of our clients. This latest move in custody services is a step in the same direction – giving us a stronger, more flexible foundation to meet our clients’ changing needs.”

“We are constantly developing our processes and checking whether it makes sense to build up external expertise internally. We see great potential in our in-house custody services to strengthen our German business and at the same time maximise synergies throughout the Group,” says Marion Höllinger, CEO, HypoVereinsbank Germany.

Source: UniCredit