OREANDA-NEWS. During today's meeting, the Board of Directors of UniCredit has appointed, effective as of 16th February 2015, Mr. Carlo Vivaldi as the Head of Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) Division. In this function Mr. Vivaldi will succeed Mr. Gianni Franco Papa, who has already been designated in August, as the Group Deputy General Manager and Head of Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) Division. In view of the appointment resolved today by UniCredit Board, the Supervisory Board of Bank Austria will be called upon to approve the appointment of Mr. Vivaldi also in the bank's Management Board.

Mr. Vivaldi was born in Treviso, Italy and is 48 years old. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Ca' Foscari University in Venice and has started his career in 1991 as a teller in UniCredit Group in Cassamarca. In 2000 he became the Head of New Europe Division's Planning and Controlling, thus contributing to the development of UniCredit's activities in the CEE region. He then covered the CFO role, first in Yapi Kredi and then in UniCredit Bank Austria. Since January 2011 he has been Deputy CEO of Yapi Kredi.

Following the decision of the BoD, Mr. Federico Ghizzoni commented: "The appointment decided today by the Board is consistent with the outcomes of the Executive Development Plan (EDP) and the related succession planning, and further testifies our ability to develop internal talents, who have grown within the Group also through international experiences, fostering the growth of a strong top management line".

Furthermore, Mr. Gianni Franco Papa stated: "I'm sure that Carlo Vivaldi, whom I had the opportunity to know and appreciate personally over the years, is the best person to continue the development and consolidation process in a region having a strong strategic importance for our Group".