UniCredit : joins Plug and Play to discover new innovative solutions for the Group and our clients

The Bank is a founding partner and the only financial institution to join in Milan

and a strategic partner of the Plug and Play Fintech Europe Hub in Frankfurt

UniCredit announced today, at the Plug and Play Italy soft launch event in Milan, its partnership with the California-based global innovation platform bringing together start-ups and corporates from all the main market sectors. The Bank has joined as a founding partner and the only financial institution involved so far, in Milan - the first location to run a Food & Beverage focused programme outside of the platform's Silicon Valley HQ - and is also a strategic partner of the Plug and Play Fintech Europe Hub in Frankfurt.

UniCredit has joined Plug and Play with the aim to increase the testing of innovative Fintech solutions at Group level in order to continuously benefit from Fintech concepts and products that can improve banking processes and enhance our customer offering. The partnership will allow UniCredit to experiment with relevant Fintech propositions across various fields ranging from Retail to Corporate and Investment Banking, following a structured and lean process to pilot and assess solutions of interest. The Bank's final goal is to harness the value arising from best-in-class Fintechs on the market through potential commercial agreements.

In addition, being part of Plug and Play in our two core markets in Italy and Germany, will provide UniCredit with the opportunity to identify additional ways of being an innovation partner for our clients, including Corporates, SMEs and Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, by connecting them to the Plug and Play ecosystem through tailored initiatives. The latter comprises access to relevant international events such as workshops and talks as well as introductions to industry-specialist startups.

UniCredit is strongly committed to developing innovative products and services for our customers and streamlining our processes. The Bank is happy to partner with the right Fintechs in order to accelerate its digital transformation. UniCredit has been working with Fintechs for a number of years on a range of developments relevant for clients across the Group. For example, in Italy UniCredit is already an active supporter of innovative entrepreneurs with their business projects through UniCredit Start Lab, which as a multidimensional accelerator programme, seeks to support promising startups and SMEs across all sectors.

Ranieri De Marchis, UniCredit Co-Chief Operating Officer, commented: 'UniCredit is a simple and successful pan-European Bank and we have been building strong relationships with our customers for years, continuously meeting their evolving needs with our full commercial offering. We know that our customers increasingly want simplicity and we recognise the crucial role technology plays in achieving this. We believe that Fintechs can help support us in finding new and relevant digital solutions that meet changing client needs and the partnership with Plug and Play provides us with an additional strategic avenue for doing this.'

Saeed Amidi, Plug and Play Founder and CEO, added: 'It is a great honour and pleasure to welcome UniCredit to the Plug and Play Innovation platform. We feel confident that working jointly with UniCredit, we will be able, through our entrepreneurs and startups, to implement new technology to better serve UniCredit's clients and help build their growth.'

 

About UniCredit

UniCredit is a simple successful pan-European Commercial Bank, with a fully plugged in CIB, delivering a unique

Western, Central and Eastern European network to its extensive client franchise: 26 million clients. UniCredit offers both local and international expertise to its clients, providing them with unparalleled access to leading banks in its 14 core markets through its European banking network: Italy, Germany, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey.

Leveraging on an international network of representative offices and branches, UniCredit serves clients in another 18 countries worldwide.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 10,000 startups and 280 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club and PayPal.

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