Social Impact Banking is UniCredit's commitment to building a fairer and more inclusive society. Its aim is to identify, finance and promote people and enterprises that have a positive social impact. Helping to develop the communities where we operate is a cornerstone of our mission as a bank.
"We don't want to be just lenders, but also the drivers and facilitators of change to better our society.
To do well, you have to do good."
Jean Pierre Mustier, UniCredit Chief Executive Officer
This approach seeks to generate both economic returns of our investments and wider benefits for the communities. As well as continuously providing financing to projects and organisations that are generally excluded from traditional banking products and services, SIB allows UniCredit to share its financial and business know-how through educational initiatives dedicated to micro-entrepreneurs, social enterprises and vulnerable or disadvantaged groups, including young people, the elderly and others at risk of social exclusion.
Following the successful 1st year in Italy with € 72.9 million of impact financing approved, UniCredit gradually rolled out the platform to additional markets in 2019, to: Romania, Germany, Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Our ambition is to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. In particular, we have chosen to focus on promoting quality education, developing initiatives for the good health and well-being of disadvantaged people, championing gender equality, supporting job creation and economic growth, and reducing inequality.
We are not alone in working towards these goals. With the support of a variety of like-minded partners who share our objectives, we have built a broad network to champion the sustainable development goals. More than that, the engagement of UniCredit’s employees is a key driving force behind the training and support activities provided through SIB, which help build valuable networks within the communities where the Bank operates, bringing people together to share positive experiences and raising awareness of relevant projects to increase their potential impact. SIB also has a strong focus on monitoring and the measurement of outcomes, which is essential for ensuring the sustainable growth of both the sponsored projects and the Bank’s investment returns. The aim is to measure not only the direct, but also the indirect positive impacts generated by the projects backed in terms of social and economic well-being within UniCredit’s communities.
Key concepts
BUILDING TRUST
We develop long-term relationships with the businesses we support and with our partners.
MEASURING OUTCOMES
We help deserving organizations to prosper, ones that should serve to inspire others. This is why we believe that monitoring and measuring outcomes and social impacts is essential for sponsored projects to grow.
GENERATING SOCIAL IMPACT
We support initiatives that generate a positive social impact on people and the community. We help them achieve their goals, by providing not only finance but also expertise and support networks. By doing so, we can strengthen our ties with the communities where we work.
Our approach
We provide finance, expertise and networks for deserving projects and people, retaining an open-minded approach to external needs and ideas in order to foster a growth process that works both ways.
How we help social initiatives
PROVIDING FINANCE
We finance projects and organizations that are otherwise excluded from traditional banking products and social enterprises that have a positive impact on society
SHARING EXPERTISE
We share our financial expertise and support organizations in their growth, to help them do what they do best.
BUILDING NETWORKS
We build networks uniting various community players, share positive experiences, and raise awareness of the most deserving initiatives to help magnify their impact.
UniCredit has long been engaged in a number of social initiatives. The launch of Social Impact Banking marks a significant increase in our level of commitment, with three action areas leading towards the final goal of having a positive social impact in the communities where we work.
