CEE's best bank 2020: UniCredit

Tight labour markets and low interest rates put a floor under credit demand across central and eastern Europe last year and mitigated the effects on banking sectors of slowing economic growth, regulatory curbs on consumer lending and proliferating sectoral levies.

The region’s big banking groups all posted another set of robust results, reaping the benefits of years of painstaking balance-sheet cleansing and hefty investment in digitalization. For most, the strategic priority and the main driver of growth was once again the retail segment, where buoyant consumer confidence and relatively low household leverage ensured healthy demand for both secured and unsecured lending.

By contrast, CEE’s biggest regional lender has kept its focus firmly on its core corporate and small and medium-sized enterprise clientele.

With a full-service corporate and investment bank plugged into its 10-country commercial banking network, UniCredit positions itself as the gateway to CEE for international firms and the leading partner for local entrepreneurs.

As well as maintaining leading transaction services, advisory and markets franchises, the Italian group has shown consistent appetite for putting its balance sheet to work across the region.