UniCredit is an Italian banking group that provides corporate, investment and private banking services.[1] It operates in 18 European countries.[2] As of the third quarter of 2017, UniCredit held over 211.4 billion of assets under management.[3]
UniCredit’s Position Statement on the Defence/Weapons Industry states: “Any involvement of UniCredit in business transactions concerning weapons is restricted to countries that comply with the most important international Treaties and Conventions on the following issues: nuclear weapons, biological & chemical weapons, conventional weapons, missiles, small arms, light weapons and dual-use goods.”[4]
In addition, the bank “abstains from financing transactions involving manufacturing, maintaining or trading controversial/unconventional products such as nuclear, biological & chemical weapons of mass destruction, cluster bombs, mines and Uranium.”[5] Thus, Unicredit does not exclude companies as a whole, only transactions related to the nuclear weapons’ related activities of a company.
UniCredit considers delivery systems that are specifically designed for nuclear weapons to fall under the nuclear weapons category. Its definition of manufacturing includes the development of these weapons as well.[6] UniCredit’s nuclear weapons policy applies to its commercial banking and investment banking activities.[7] The bank’s asset management unit, Pioneer Investments, does not apply the nuclear weapons policy.[8]
UniCredit makes use of an exclusion list, but the list is not publicly available.[9] The list is based on information from specialist advisory firms and tools such as Oekom and RepRisk.[10]
Unicredit was also found to have several investments in nuclear weapon producing companies identified by this report, more information can be found in the Hall of Shame.
We commend UniCredit for adopting a public policy on nuclear weapons. We recommend UniCredit all activities of nuclear weapons producing companies. In addition, UniCredit should apply the policy to all financial products. We look forward to engaging with UniCredit, so a strong and comprehensively applied policy may be listed in the Hall of Fame in a future update of this report.
[1] UniCredit, “Business model”, website UniCredit (https://www.unicreditgroup.eu/en/banking-group/business-model.html), viewed 23 January 2018.
[2] UniCredit, “Company Profile”, 9 November 2017 (hhttps://www.unicreditgroup.eu/content/dam/unicreditgroup-eu/documents/en/banking-group/at-a-glance/UniCreditGroupCompanyProfile_September2017.pdf), viewed 23 January 2018.
[3] Unicredit, “Third Quarter 2017 Group Results”, website Unicredit (https://www.unicreditgroup.eu/en/press-media/press-releases-price-sensitive/2017/unicredit–terzo-trimestre.html), viewed 23 January 2018.
[4] UniCredit, “UniCredit Position Statement on Defense/Weapons Industry”, available at https://www.unicreditgroup.eu/content/dam/unicreditgroup/documents/en/sustainability/our-vision-of-a-sustainable-bank/governance-and-sustainability/UniCredit_Position_Statement_On_Defence_English_new.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.
[5] UniCredit, “UniCredit Position Statement on Defense/Weapons Industry”, available at https://www.unicreditgroup.eu/content/dam/unicreditgroup/documents/en/sustainability/our-vision-of-a-sustainable-bank/governance-and-sustainability/UniCredit_Position_Statement_On_Defence_English_new.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.
[6] UniCredit, written response to Profundo dated 25 June 2014.
[7] UniCredit, “UniCredit Position Statement on Defense/Weapons Industry”, available at https://www.unicreditgroup.eu/content/dam/unicreditgroup/documents/en/sustainability/our-vision-of-a-sustainable-bank/governance-and-sustainability/UniCredit_Position_Statement_On_Defence_English_new.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018; UniCredit, written response to Profundo dated 25 June 2014.
[8] UniCredit, written response to Profundo dated 25 June 2014.
[9] UniCredit, written response to Profundo dated 28 May 2014.
[10] UniCredit, written response to Profundo dated 28 May 2014.
Last updated March 2018