Italian banking giant Unicredit has entered into a non-binding agreement with a private investor from the United Arab Emirates for the sale of part of AO Bank.

According to a statement released on Thursday, the buyer is an established private investor from the United Arab Emirates with longstanding institutional and business ties, for whom Unicredit has conducted the necessary compliance checks.

The plan involves splitting AO Bank into two separate entities. Unicredit will retain the part responsible for processing international payments in euro and dollar for Western and Russian corporate clients that are not subject to sanctions.

No Impact on Shareholder Distributions

The transaction is also expected to have a cumulative negative impact on the income statement of around 3,0 to 3,3 billion euro. This includes, among other factors, a negative effect of 1,6 to 1,8 billion euro from existing currency reserves, which will be recognised in the income statement as a non-cash item with no impact on capital.

The transaction is not expected to affect shareholder distributions and should also leave the bank’s net profit targets for the 2028–2030 period unchanged. The sale is expected to be completed in the first half of 2027.