UniCredit profits up 25 percent, best 1Q in a decade
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Italy's largest bank by assets, UniCredit, posted its best quarter in a decade, with a 25% boost in first-quarter profits as the bank pushes ahead with a reorganization plan that includes deep cost-cutting.
UniCredit said Thursday that the bank's first-quarter profits were 1.39 billion euros ($1.46 billion), up from 1.1 billion euros a year earlier.
The results were posted a day after the bank announced the sale of a 17-percent stake in its Fineco online banking subsidiary for just over 1 billion euros, as it seeks to boost its financial strength ahead of a new business plan in December.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The bank said revenues dipped as higher loan volumes and rates offset higher funding costs of loans, and that fees were pulled down by lower investment fees.