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UniCredit inks deal with unions for 1,000 exits, 500 new jobs

Italy's secondbiggest bank UniCredit has reached an arrangement with labour unions to send 1,000 personnel into early retirement and change half of them with new hires, unions said on Thursday.

The move, sources have actually formerly told Reuters, falls within CEO Andrea Orcel's strategy aimed at slimming down the business centre as the bank enhances its digital capabilities.

A downsizing of UniCredit's central offices in Milan might likewise be an advantage if the bank were to pursue a tie-up with Commerzbank, in which it has ended up being the most significant shareholder pending supervisory approval.

In that case Germany would end up being UniCredit's primary market.

While it has ruled out moving its legal base abroad, Italian authorities and union leaders have actually revealed concerns UniCredit could shift a minimum of some central functions to Frankfurt to gotten rid of German opposition to a deal.

The UNISIN-CONFSAL union said there could be approximately another 250 new hires over the next 2 years based upon regular turnover.

Under the accord signed overnight, unions secured a number of advantages for the bank's 27,000 Italian personnel consisting of higher meal vouchers and a renewal of the health care insurance for 2026-2027 on the exact same terms as in 2023, the FABI union stated.

FABI likewise said UniCredit had devoted to agreeing by February 25 a productivity bonus offer that would show the excellent results the bank is set to report this year.

Under the deal, UniCredit will invest to re-train 600 staff members in its headquarters, of whom 200 will be relocated to branches as quickly as next year to support efforts to improve fee earnings.

The training will see staff go to classes at a learning centre dubbed UniCredit Academy.

The staying 400 will be reallocated based upon the pace of digitisation of the bank's central functions, and are anticipated to be mostly redeployed to boost diminished branch network ranks.

The accord is very important since of the role reskilling plays in it, a component which counters the potential requirement for further exits, FABI representative Stefano Cefaloni stated.

(source: Reuters)