UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel discusses the Italian lender’s first-quarter earnings, its outlook for 2026, the impact of the macroeconomic environment, and the latest on its proposals for Commerzbank.
What Andrea Orcel said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Andrea Orcel, UniCredit's Group Chief Executive Officer, reported the bank's 21st consecutive quarter of record results, with net profit up 16% (22% excluding Russia) and costs down 2% on an equal perimeter. He said commercial momentum is strong, with lending up 6%, deposits up 6% excluding Russia, and fees up 8-9%, and that there is no indication of asset quality deterioration. On net interest income, Orcel said rising ECB rates would be a tailwind but not a repeat of previous years. He attributed cost declines to AI-driven process elimination under the new strategy. Regarding Commerzbank, Orcel said the tender offer opening today is a way to engage and break a stalemate, not the expected path to control, and that it offers a win-win for UniCredit shareholders with returns above 20% and a put option as a hedge. He advocated for Commerzbank to focus on Germany and Poland, and called for European banking union and capital market union.
Key takeaways
UniCredit reported its 21st consecutive quarter of record numbers, with net profit up 16% (22% excluding Russia) and costs down 2% on an equal perimeter.
Orcel said the Commerzbank tender offer is not expected to lead to control, but is a win-win with returns above 20% and a put option as a hedge.
Orcel stated there is no indication of asset quality decline as of May, with NPL down and coverage up, and overlays untouched.
Orcel said rising ECB rates would be a tailwind for NII, but not a massive one, and not a repeat of previous years.
Orcel argued Commerzbank should focus on Germany and Poland, and less on unrelated external growth.
Well, this is our 21st quarter successively of record numbers. I think it demonstrates our consistency, our sustainability, and that the transformation is underpinning all of these results. We have a beat across all the lines on the P&L. We have a beat on core revenues. We have a beat on gross revenues. The equity investment complemented the core revenues and worked out better than we expected. Costs are down 2% on an equal perimeter. Gross operating profit is 8% higher, 12 if we exclude the compression of Russia, and net profit is up 16%, 22 if we exclude Russia. So, all of this, in our opinion, points to two things. One, that we continue to deliver in the short term, well diversified, but two, that the continued transformation underpinned a dispersion and a positive performance on a relative basis.
But let me ask you, this is all happening in a very uncertain environment geopolitically, but also when it comes to the macro environment. How much visibility have you got on all different businesses when it comes to the commercial momentum?
Well, look, the commercial momentum is very strong. We had our lending is up 6%. Our deposits, excluding Russia, are up 6%. Our fees are up 8 or 9% depending what you consider. So, from that standpoint, the underlying business is well diversified and performing very well. Now, the environment is what it is. The geopolitics are what they are. The macro is what they are. We focus on what we control. For the time being, we have no indication of deceleration. The asset quality looks good. As you saw, our NPL went down. Our coverage went up. We didn't touch the overlays. So, I can only say we're well prepared. And based on the environment we see today and the secondary impact, because the entire business is focused on Europe, differently from a lot of our peers, we see only secondary impact and we think we can deliver this year and beyond. So,
Well, at the moment we have no indication whatsoever of that, and we are in May already. So, the gut feeling tells you at some point it will arrive. That's why we're prepared. That's why our coverage is higher than it was and our overlays are untouched so that we can offset that if and when it comes. But at the moment, we have no indications.
Andrea, the massive tailwind for European banks when it comes to net interest income, that has stabilized. That's pretty much over. However, if the ECB were to hike in the not-too-distant future, how much would that actually move the needle when it comes to NII?
Well, that's one of the key points because if you look at the performance of European banks when there was a deceleration in growth and a hike in interest rates when Russia invaded Ukraine and you do a translation to today, you see that a decline in growth and a greater inflation is not necessarily negative if you have your cost under control and if your margins expand. At the moment, our NII, with declining interest rates, has been effectively flat quarter on quarter and was starting to rise in Q2 and beyond as we guided. But if rates go up as the ECB is indicating, that's a tailwind. Not a massive one. We're not going to see the repeat of a couple years ago.
8 more exchanges in this transcript
Sign in free to read the rest of this interview. No card required.
Orcel, A. (2026, May 5). UniCredit CEO: Taking control of Commerzbank is 'not the expected scenario' [Interview transcript]. CNBC International Live. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1015962/
MLA
Andrea Orcel. "UniCredit CEO: Taking control of Commerzbank is 'not the expected scenario'." CNBC International Live, 5 May. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1015962/.
BibTeX
@misc{orcel2026_1015962,
author = {Andrea Orcel},
title = {UniCredit CEO: Taking control of Commerzbank is 'not the expected scenario'},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, CNBC International Live. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {may},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1015962/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
