Three days before the meeting, called for Friday, Unicredit received the ECB’s authorization to carry out the buyback program for 2022 for a maximum amount of 3.343 billion.
The green light, explains a note, is based «on the financial information provided by the company, which highlighted a significant solidity of capital levels and an organic generation of capital at the top of the sector. Together with the consistency of the liquidity position, these elements guarantee that the company can face stress scenarios from a position of strength».
The valuation, the statement adds, “has taken into consideration a capital trajectory with conservative assumptions and updated macroeconomic scenarios”. The historical performance of the bank was also evaluated, which is operating at a new level of profitability, a new run-rate of net income and distribution to shareholders from which the company can further grow and continue to deliver solid results for all the stakeholders”. Together with the proposed dividend, this therefore results in a total distribution to shareholders for 2022 of €5.25 billion, up 40% compared to 2021.
UniCredit recalls that the Cet1 coefficient, pro-forma for distribution, is equal to 14.9% at the end of 2022 and “a further increase is expected in the first quarter of 2023”. After obtaining the approval of the shareholders’ meeting, UniCredit plans to carry out the buyback of treasury shares “in two tranches, the first of approximately 2.34 billion to be launched as soon as possible after the approval of the shareholders’ meeting, while the second tranche of approximately one billion is expected to start in the second half of 2023, shortly after the completion of the first tranche.
