UniCredit: Best Social Impact Bank Europe 2022

UniCredit is a prominent pan-European collection of 13 banks in 13 geographies. The group pulls together the entire team under the mandate of exceptional ESG performance. Shared principles and strong collaboration have allowed UniCredit to reap the benefits of groupwide synergies. UniCredit launched its first-ever green bond and retail social bond in 2021. This year, it published a sustainability report detailing how the funds were allocated to finance and boost renewable energy, education, health and social services projects. Around 20 percent of UniCredit’s impact stories take place in Italy, where the group is headquartered, and the remainder are spread across its main markets in Western, Central and Eastern Europe. Since the beginning of 2017, UniCredit has collected groupwide data on €405.3m worth of funding. The group organised their impact data around the UN’s SDGs: €149.3m went to health and wellbeing, €140.5m to decent work and economic growth, €56m and €23.4m to the reduction of poverty and inequality, respectively, €19m to sustainable cities and communities and €17.1m to quality education. The group disbursed €180.2m in loans in 2021: €32.9m in microcredit and €147.3m in impact financing. Last year, UniCredit launched 53 financial education and awareness initiatives that benefited 123,522 young people, women, vulnerable people, small businesses, start-ups and social organisations in 11 countries. Another 206,111 beneficiaries — mostly women — were reached through eight financial awareness and ESG initiatives in five countries. The CFI.co jury presents repeat winner UniCredit with the 2022 Best Social Impact Bank (Europe) award.