The Italian banking group reported an underlying net profit of €1.1 billion for Q2 2021 as it made ‘significant’ early progress in simplifying the business, according to chief executive officer Andrea Orcel (pictured).

Unicredit has posted revenues of €4.4 billion for the second quarter of 2021, an increase of 5.5% compared to the same  quarter in 2020.

The Italian group’s trading income increased to €425m, up 19.1% from the same  quarter last year, with client driven trading contributing €352m. Non-client driven trading income was down 48.2% year-on-year (YoY), mainly due to treasury.

Revenues from dividends, at €125m, were up 102% YoY, with positive contribution from both other equity and financial investments.

Unicredit issued 1,690 structured products across nine different jurisdictions in the second quarter of 2021, according to SRP data. The products sold a combined US$690m (€585m), up 56% from the previous quarter (US$442m from 2,196 products), but down compared to Q2 2020, when US$2.3 billion was raised (from 1,587 products).

The highest structured product volumes for the group were recorded in Italy where 56 products worth €363.5m had strike dates during the quarter, up 86% by sales volume quarter-on-quarter (Q1 2021: €194.9m from 23 products). However, sales were significantly down from Q2 2020 when 31 products with combined sales of €1.6 billion struck.

Products in Italy were predominately distributed via the group’s own network, but some were also available via the distribution channels of Banca Mediolanum, Banco di Desio e della Brianza, Fineco Bank and Deutsche Bank.

Equities dominated the Italian market, with €225m collected from 23 products tied to a share basket. Approximately €40m was accumulated from 19 products linked to a single share while five products linked to a single index sold €50m.

The best-selling product in Italy during the quarter was the capital protected Cash Collect Protect 100% Certificate, which was linked to the shares of Intesa SanPaolo and Generali. It sold €30.8m during its subscription period.

Germany is another market where Unicredit recorded a high level of structured products activity. It sold 1,582 primary market products with sales of approximately €275m in Q2 2021, a decrease from the previous quarter (€296m from 2,100 products) and  Q2 2020 (€380m from 1,512 products).

A reverse convertible on the share of Daimler was the highest seller in Germany (€12m).

Other markets where the bank sold structured products in Q2 2021 included Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

Unicredit also issued in the three months 39,646 turbo certificates, which can be traded on the exchanges of Frankfurt and Stuttgart (Q1 2021: 53,142; Q2 2020: 65,446).

A new UniCredit organisational structure,  to be fully implemented in the second half of the year, included a dedicated management team for Italy.

Assets under management (AuM) reached €217 billion, up 13.3% YoY, driven by strong market performance in commercial banking Italy.

In June 2021, Unicredit issued its inaugural €1 billion fix-to-floater senior preferred green bond. The product has an eight-year maturity and a call after year seven. It is targeted at institutional investors under the newly established group wide sustainability bond framework (SBF).

The group’s 2021 funding plan is more skewed towards minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) instruments in preparation for the upcoming intermediate requirement in 2022, while bank capital needs are  limited given the bank’s substantial capital buffers.

Click the link to read the full Unicredit 2Q 2021 & 1H 2021 results, presentation and glossary.