Best bank: UniCredit
Market doubts, three years ago, about whether Andrea Orcel’s management of UniCredit would be sufficiently orientated to shareholder value have proven to be far from the mark. Orcel might have shied away from a deal with the Italian government to buy Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in 2021, but this has not prevented UniCredit from remaining a large and growing part of the European banking story.
AfE 2024
In 2023, UniCredit’s share price increased by 75%, compared to a 25% rise in the share price of its arch-rival, Intesa Sanpaolo. In 2024, that divergence in UniCredit’s favour has continued. By mid-2024, UniCredit’s share price had tripled in just two years, breaking the all-important mark of one times book value.
Much larger capital returns, including share buybacks, are a key reason for this share price boost.