UniCredit expands payments partnership with Mastercard

By Gloria Methri

UniCredit and Mastercard have announced a global expansion of their payment partnership for a single card multi-market strategy.

The UniCredit Unlocked strategy brings together UniCredit’s ability to harness the weight of 13 banks as one institution and Mastercard’s expertise in the card payment space. The expansion of the parties’ relationship will deliver payment innovation and enhanced digital experiences to customers.

This multi-year partnership enables the Italian bank to provide a unique offering for all its cardholders, delivering a simplified core product proposition and optimized digital experience with a full suite of in-app solutions.

The agreement is in line with the UniCredit Unlocked plan to unite 13 banks to deliver value for UniCredit stakeholders in a capital-light manner.

The partnership will focus on supporting the delivery of UniCredit’s strategic priorities. This includes digitalization of payments solutions, and offering multi-functioning solutions with a fully equipped card. It aligns with UniCredit’s ambition to build increased preference and loyalty across the consumer lifecycle, enriching bank-wide opportunities using Mastercard’s brand platform and sponsorship marketing assets.

“This partnership epitomizes the essence of UniCredit Unlocked and our commitment to leverage the full impact of our multi-market footprint as one complete offering for the benefit of our clients,” said Andrea Orcel, CEO, of UniCredit. “Our geographical reach and Mastercard’s expertise in this space enables us to not only streamline our partnerships and contracts but enhance our digital, security, and product offering for all our current and future cardholders. This is a perfect example of the new way of managing projects in UniCredit, bringing benefits to all legal entities in a disciplined way and acting as a single company.”

“UniCredit has been an important partner for many years. Together we have created real solutions that help people and businesses across Europe. This expanded relationship will build on that experience to bring new innovations to UniCredit cardholders”, said Michael Miebach, CEO, Mastercard.