UniCredit Group announces a 4 billion euro profit for 2008. No bonus for directors

UniCredit Bank Group announced for 2008 a net profit of 4.012 billion euro, according to experts. In the last quarter of the year, the group registered a net profit of 505 billion euro compared to the same period in 2007 when the profit was 1172 billion euro. Plus, the group will request a support plan from Italy and Austria to supplement their funds, AFP reads.

The Group’s board of administration decided not to offer any bonuses for bank directors, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reads. In order to supplement the available funds, UniGredit decided to negotiate with Italian and Austrian authorities the use of the 4 billion euro worth governmental capitalization measures in Italy and Austria.

For this support, the group needs to relax its credit policy. Among Italian banks, UniCredit felt the crisis most sharply and turned out to be the most exposed bank on external markets