UniCredit has long been regarded as a leader in corporate banking in central and eastern Europe. Transaction services continues to be a vital part of this regional franchise under Riccardo Madinelli, head of transactions and payments for central and eastern Europe.
The group has continued to roll out its suite of digital tools in the region – broadening the availability of instant payments, for example, as well as services such as electronic signatures and electronic back-office archives. At a time of tightening liquidity, it has continued to help streamline clients’ treasury operations and account structures, allowing clients to conserve cash.
Among the bank’s initiatives in central and eastern European transaction services this year is a partnership with Flik Pay in Slovenia, allowing customers to make payments to friends in their phone contact list. It is also part of the Blink programme in Bulgaria, boosting the capacity of customers to send and receive instant transfers via their mobile banking apps.
Across the region, the bank has bolstered its single-point-of-entry payments services for corporate clients, including recently for a French automotive multinational, using UniCredit Slovakia for pan-regional operations. For small businesses, the bank has launched SoftPOS services that allow businesses to use a smartphone as a card terminal in six countries in the region.
Its banks in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia have finalized enhancement for their cash-pooling services alongside upgrades to the bank’s notional pooling solution.
Cash-management mandates won by UniCredit include a large infrastructure player in Serbia and a global parcel delivery company operating in the Czech Republic, with drivers’ cash deposit needs exceeding Kc50,000 ($2,300). UniCredit devised a tailor-made solution making use of its branch and ATM network.
In trade finance, its highlights include offering repayment of letters-of-credit forfaiting in tranches in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and becoming the first bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina to adopt and implement transit guarantees without expiry dates, in anticipation of the country joining the EU’s Common Transit Convention.
At a time of tightening liquidity, [UniCredit] has continued to help streamline clients’ treasury operations and account structures, allowing clients to conserve cash
UniCredit also helped support key infrastructure projects including winning eight deals to support the implementation of photovoltaic plants in Hungary, generating letters of credit and guarantees worth Ft68.25 billion ($201 million), while issuing two letters of credit for corporate clients in Bosnia and Herzegovina to support the supply of solar modules – helping the bank exit its exposure to the coal industry.
Other examples include implementing a multicurrency receivables finance solution without recourse factoring for a pan-European pet food company, using UniCredit’s bank in Hungary and its factoring units in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy. It also implemented a receivables finance solution for the Romanian subsidiary of an international bus manufacturer.
