The Italian bank UniCredit suffered a net loss in the fourth quarter. The financial concern had to deal with high one-off costs. They have to do with the collapse of Austrian and German activities and a recent strategy change. Over the last three months of 2019, Italy’s largest bank suffered a loss of 835 million euros, compared to a profit of nearly 2 billion euros in the same period a year earlier. UniCredit increased, among other things, its provisions for loans that may not be paid off by more than 1 billion euros. According to the bank, this step is the result of a new strategy whereby the company leaves non-core activities. UniCredit managed to increase sales in the fourth quarter. This was mainly due to higher commissions for services and more income from securities trading. They more than compensated for a fall in net interest income. All in all, revenues increased by 3.4 percent in the reporting period to 4.9 billion euros.
