The logo at the headquarters of UniCredit SpA in Milan, Italy, on Saturday, January 22, 2022.
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UniCredit pledged on Tuesday to return 5.25 billion euros ($5.69 billion) to investors based on 2022 results, further advancing one of the most ambitious payout targets among European banks, after posting its best profit in a decade.
The bank said net profit came in at 2.46 billion euros in the three months through December, more than twice the average forecast of 1.10 billion euros ($1.2 billion) from analysts polled by the bank.
The figure includes an 852 million euro boost from the write-down of deferred tax assets.
The lender paid 3.75 billion euros to investors during 2021 in return for dividends and share buybacks.
UniCredit said it expects net profit in 2023 to be broadly in line with 2022 including its Russian business, after excluding it from last year’s profit target following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It also targets the distribution of benefits for 2023 in line with 2022.
UniCredit has failed to break out of Russia’s top 15 lenders.
The bank said core capital rose to 16% in the fourth quarter, from 15.41% at the end of September.
When taking into account the latest distribution plans, which are subject to shareholder approval and, for the buyback part, supervisory approval, the core pro-forma capital was 14.9%, still exceeding the target of 12.5-13.0%.
UniCredit said income from its core lending activity rose 38% from the previous quarter and 43% from a year earlier, as tighter monetary policy widened the gap between the rates banks exchange for loans and those paid to raise funds.
That brought overall quarterly profit to 5.72 billion euros, above the average forecast of 5.12 billion euros.