It was off on Tuesday evening to Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking’s winter press party, which the bank has far too much class to call its Christmas bash.

UniCredit continues to expand its operations in central and eastern Europe, with the acquisitive Italian banking group turning its gaze towards Ukraine in July. Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA), which is responsible for UniCredit’s commercial banking activities in central and eastern Europe, has signed an agreement to buy 95% of Ukrsotsbank (USB), Ukraine’s fourth-largest bank by assets. The deal follows June’s $1.5 billion purchase of a controlling stake in Kazakhstan’s ATF Bank and the acquisition of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s 10% stake in Russia’s International Moscow Bank for $229 million.

UniCredit stole a march on its banking rivals in late June with the signing of an agreement to buy at least 85% of Kazakhstan’s fifth-largest financial services provider, ATF Bank. The roughly $2.2 billion transaction will catapult the Italian bank to the top of the foreign bank pile in the oil-rich central Asian republic, with UniCredit leapfrogging such rivals as Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and ING, which all have long-established operations in the country.

Eighteen months after buying HVB, Italy’s UniCredit is close to finalizing its disparate emerging European businesses’ integration under the parent’s banner. But what is the next step for the bank and its head of the region, Erich Hampel?

The Italian bank has issued across all asset classes and is regarded as a significant and still progressive issuer.

The future for UniCredit and HVB’s merged operations in central and eastern Europe has been determined, with HVB’s subsidiary, Bank Austria Creditanstalt, set to become the sub-holding company for CEE operations within the UniCredit group.