UniCredit rules out need for cash call after CET 1 disappoints
MILAN (Reuters) - UniCredit expects its core capital ratio to recover in the next few months after it fell in the fourth quarter of 2014 due to the impact of the rouble devaluation, the bank's chief executive said on Wednesday ruling out a cash call.
CEO Federico Ghizzoni said the impact of the rouble devaluation on the Common Equity Tier 1 ratio, which fell to 10 percent at the end of December from 10.4 percent three months earlier, totalled 950 million euros.
He said he expected the ratio to rebound thanks to profits and the positive impact of deals such as the combination of UniCredit's Pioneer unit with Santander's asset management business.
"There is absolutely no need for a capital increase," Ghizzoni told reporters.
He also said the bank's board had approved the sale of its UCCMB bad loan unit to Fortress Investments , and the deal will be signed shortly.
(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi and Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Valentina Za)
