Andrea Orcel is heading to the April assembly, once again beating market estimates. Unicredit closed 2023 with record results at 23.8 billion euros (+17.3%), driven by more than half of the 14 billion in net interest income, which remained higher than in any other quarter from October to December. Net profit soared to 8.6 billion, up more than 50% year on year.
In the fourth quarter, it was 1.9 billion (consensus 1.2 billion) compared to 1.4 billion in the same period of 2022. Commissions instead stood at 1.8 billion, essentially stable: the -0.6% is attributed to the impact of reductions in current account fees in Italy and higher securitization costs; loan loss provisions stood at 300 million. Operating costs in the quarter amounted to 2.5 billion, up 6.9% compared to the previous three months and 0.8% year on year.
2023 is therefore crowned as the best year for performance. This demonstrates what we can achieve when we put customers at the center of what we do, and focus on executing our industrial transformation, with each of the thirteen countries in our pan-European network contributing to our success. Profit will be in line with that of the past year.
The capital strength index, the Cet 1 ratio, stood at 15.89% (consensus expected 16.54%) in 2023, up around 100 basis points despite the distribution of 100% of net profit, with organic capital generation amounting to 12 billion in 2023.