Achieving transparency through responsible Our colleagues in Austria are also improving transparency through
communications their Rating Advisory Service, which informs SME and large
corporate customers about our bank’s rating policies. The service
Banks must be transparent in their communications about advises clients on how to restructure their balance sheets to
products and services if they are to earn and maintain the trust of improve their internal rating within our bank, to plan strategies and
their customers. At UniCredit, we work to clarify and simplify our to take appropriate action.
contracts, product agreements and account statements, as well
as the content on our commercial websites, by replacing banking Customers were particularly appreciative of our SME Info Days in
jargon with plain language. This approach has been deployed Austria, which advised entrepreneurs on how to secure subsidized
in Italy, Germany and Austria over the past few years, and was loans. Roughly 700 guests - 78 percent customers and 22 percent
adopted in several CEE countries in 2012. non-customers - participated in the events, which were held
among Austria’s regional capital cities. Largely because of these
In keeping with this Groupwide simplification program, informational events, UniCredit Bank Austria AG was able to
Bulgaria streamlined two-thirds of its existing corporate client finance more than €70 million (up 21 percent compared to 2011)
documentation, and in Croatia, clients now receive detailed and in subsidized loans in 2012.
transparent disclosures regarding the features and fees of our
products and services at tailored presentations held at least once In Ukraine, we launched a weekly meeting series where our local
per year in every region. Head of Risk Management and our Head of the Middle Corporate
Department sit down with a small group of clients to explain
In Hungary, we began to publish a quarterly newsletter about our UniCredit’s strategy and to discuss how our bank can better meet
banking products and services, which is emailed to 4,700 clients. their needs. Similar client meetings are held monthly with our local
In 2013, we will include information on banking topics directly on general manager and/or our director of corporate business.
account statements, using a format that is designed to be simpler
and more transparent for all corporate customers.
In this same spirit of transparency, UniCredit Tiriac Bank SA in Service quality
Romania regularly publishes updated information on its website
regarding its corporate products, fees and commissions13. Offering superior professional service
Our focus on providing superior service means investing in our
Our Group works hard to maintain the trust of our customers, ability to help our clients overcome operational complexities and
which is why we also provide them with educational opportunities respond to market pressures.
to enhance their understanding of our products and services.
Delivering quality services is a continual process. We invest in
In Germany, we organized HVB@Webinar, our optional online the details - in our training and coaching, in our questioning and
training courses for SME customers. In 2012, more than 3,000 listening - to differentiate ourselves in a way that is meaningful
clients have made use of these courses. A program addressing to our customers.
the implementation of Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) has
been our most popular course, attracting more than 2,400 We begin this process by investing in our people, particularly
customers whose accounting processes will be affected by this in our new team members and colleagues preparing for new
new payments system. Our SEPA webinars were designed to professional roles and responsibilities, to ensure that they are
help customers as they prepare for upcoming changes, enabling effective.
them to carry out their cash management transactions in line
with new SEPA rules. In Italy, our four-day Introduction to Medium Enterprise RM Role
training specifically covers commercial approaches and methods,
Participants in webinars for SME clients in Germany
credit strategies and procedures, and specialty products.
10 Our training programs for colleagues approaching new professional
4 challenges include for example our New In Role course for Small
4 Business RM, which illustrates product and service models to
SEPA incoming business prime relationship managers. It improves
5 Foreign Trade Finance their customer focus by explaining issues related to transparency,
% Health care
Financing with leasing
fairness and proximity to territories. We trained 150 small business
prime relationship managers in 2012. Courses will continue in
Other 2013, with sessions already planned for the first half of the year.
77
The qualifications of our relationship managers (RMs) are of
paramount importance. Our RM training plans are an important
expression of how we retain, categorize and prioritize our accrued
expertise; the content of these plans is updated regularly to reflect
changes to the external environment.
13. Refer to www.unicredit-tiriac.ro for more details.
UniCredit · 2012 Sustainability Report 47