UniCredit Bank Austria growth initiative with 200 new hirings, new specialist branch for housing, and 1,000 new SME customers
- At UniCredit Bank Austria, all signs point to growth:
- Recruitment of 200 new employees
- Opening of a new competence center for housing at Austria Campus, offering unique consulting services
- Focus on growth in the payments segment and new customer acquisition as part of an SME initiative – 250,000 new credit card customers and 1,000 new SME customers acquired to date
UniCredit Bank Austria has performed strongly over the past three years:
- Revenues have risen by 31 percent since 2022 (from EUR 1.993 billion to EUR 2.616 billion)
- Net profit has risen by 53 percent since 2022 (from EUR 823 million to EUR 1.260 billion)
- The cost-income ratio fell from 53.3 percent to 39.3 percent
- RoAC rose from 11.9 percent to 22.6 percent
In order to continue this development in 2026, market share in certain segments will be further expanded. Three growth initiatives are at the forefront: first, the recruitment of 200 new employees; second, the opening of a new competence center for housing; and third, the advancement of business in the payments segment and an SME initiative.
200 new hirings at UniCredit Bank Austria
UniCredit Bank Austria will hire a total of 200 new employees in the retail, corporates, and private banking business areas in 2026—in addition to regular replacements. “This is a strong signal for Austria's labor market in these economically challenging times. The aim is to expand areas with direct customer contact and strengthen customer service. This is the basis for economic success”, says Ivan Vlaho, CEO of UniCredit Bank Austria.
Recruitment began in January and will continue throughout the year. The bank is looking for young talent with high potential and experienced bankers who have already served clients. Career changers are also welcome. An important factor in the new hirings is to bring new young people into the bank. Skills in the field of artificial intelligence also play an important role in this.
UniCredit Bank Austria launches housing initiative with special branch
One area in which the advisory services are to be expanded with additional staff is housing finance. The continuation of credit growth is an important pillar of the growth strategy. In the private customer segment, construction and housing finance is the driving force behind this.
In 2025, new residential housing loans to private households totaling around EUR 1.4 billion were granted across the industry each month – an increase of around 50 percent compared to the annual average in 2024. We expect this volume of €16.7 billion in 2025 to continue to rise to €19 billion by 2026. These figures show that the residential mortgage business is picking up again.
The reason why mortgage loans are once again in greater demand is affordability. Since peaking in 2022, real estate prices have fallen by 2.7 percent, while average net income (for employees) has risen by 20 percent over the same period. As a result, the average cost of 100 square meters of living space has fallen from 14.4 times the annual income in 2022 to 11.2 times the annual income in 2025 – a reduction of three times the average annual income.
UniCredit Bank Austria is responding to this trend by launching a housing initiative. In June, a special branch for real estate financing will open at UniCredit Bank Austria’s headquarters, setting new standards. This new type of branch will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will be UniCredit Bank Austria’s new center of excellence for real estate financing.
CEO Ivan Vlaho: “The advice we offer in this new specialist branch is unique in Austria. We offer a tailor-made, comprehensive service for buying real estate that goes far beyond the usual banking services. If successful, we want to open new construction and housing finance centers in various strategically important regional capitals, thereby expanding our branch network with these specialist branches.”
UniCredit Bank Austria is therefore rethinking the entire process of real estate purchasing, as the new construction and financing center will also have real estate agents from Planet Home, insurance experts from our insurance partner ERGO, and, upon request, notaries available to complete all documents up to the mortgage deed.
Around 250,000 new credit card customers to date – growth drivers in the payments sector
The credit card issuing and acquiring solutions business areas were newly established last year. This transformation is now complete and these business areas are currently experiencing rapid growth. UniCredit Bank Austria has already gained around 250,000 new credit card customers.
Ivan Vlaho comments: “The development of these business areas has been a great success. We have divested our stake in Card Complete, thereby resolving a strategic issue. We have successfully launched our own credit card issuing business and have already around 250,000 new credit card customers. With acquiring, we have built up a new business area from scratch. We have implemented this successfully and are now focusing on growth. Specifically, we are aiming for a double-digit market share in the area of payment solutions for businesses.”
The acquiring business was built up from scratch last year – in a highly competitive market. This involved establishing a completely new infrastructure and bringing state-of-the-art technology and expertise into the company. UniCredit Bank Austria now offers a complete package of payment solutions: from payment terminals and online payment solutions (e-commerce) to Soft-POS, a low-threshold card payment solution that uses mobile phones for payments (Tap to Pay). Soft-POS was launched for Android last year and for iOS at the end of February. The focus for customers is on reducing complexity, as they can now obtain the entire range of payment services from UniCredit Bank Austria under one roof - a real added value from the customer’s point of view.
SME initiative proves successful: 1,000 new SME customers, with a target of doubling this figure by 2026
The new offering in the payments sector is also an important pillar of UniCredit Bank Austria’s SME initiative. In 2025, around 1,000 new customers were acquired in the SME sector – a significant increase on the previous year. Companies appreciate the specific SME expertise, tailor-made financing solutions, and high response speed. UniCredit Bank Austria offers the best of both worlds: regional and international.
CEO Ivan Vlaho: “We are international enough to open doors worldwide – and at the same time so close to the market that we can provide our customers with personal and individual support. Our goal is clear: we want to become the strongest financing partner for SMEs in Austria - and we are well on our way to achieving this. The signs continue to point to growth in this area as well: by 2026, we want to gain another 1,000 new customers and expand our market share in this sector.”
Enquiries:
UniCredit Bank Austria Media Relations
Matthias Raftl, tel.: +43 (0) 5 05 05-52809;
E-Mail: matthias.raftl@unicreditgroup.at