UniCredit Taps FNZ for Post-Trade, BNP Paribas for Custody in Pan-European Revamp
UniCredit has unveiled a dual-track revamp of its securities services, selecting FNZ to modernize and internalize its post-trade operations while appointing BNP Paribas to provide cross-border custody and settlement for key UniCredit entities. The combined approach is designed to standardize processes, improve control, and scale service delivery across UniCredit’s European footprint.
FNZ To Power A Cloud-Based Post-Trade Core
Under a long-term strategic partnership, UniCredit will deploy FNZ’s cloud-based post-trade securities platform to bring critical back-office functions under one roof. Delivered on a SaaS basis, the platform aims to standardize workflows, boost operational efficiency, and speed product change while enabling UniCredit to retain full oversight of processing and data.
FNZ provides wealth and post-trade infrastructure to hundreds of financial institutions globally; its modular stack is intended to assist UniCredit simplify reconciliations, corporate actions, settlement instruction management, and reporting across markets. The move is a major milestone in UniCredit’s program to internalize and streamline securities processing at scale.
BNP Paribas To Deliver Multi-Local Custody And Settlement
Complementing the technology shift, UniCredit has mandated BNP Paribas’ Securities Services—a leading global custodian with a multi-market proprietary network—to provide settlement, custody and clearing across selected UniCredit entities. The scope includes UniCredit S.p.A., UniCredit GmbH, and UniCredit International Bank S.A., with services spanning local and global custody in Italy, Germany, and France, plus local custody in Spain and Poland.
BNP Paribas will support UniCredit’s internalization program launched in 2025, supplying migration experience, market connectivity, and harmonized operating models across jurisdictions—key to reducing fragmentation and improving .
Why A Dual Model Now
With more than 15 million customers across Italy, Germany, and Central & Eastern Europe, UniCredit’s scale makes fragmented post-trade stacks costly and sluggish to change. The bank’s blueprint combines:
- Internalized Processing: FNZ’s platform gives UniCredit direct control of workflows, data, and service levels, with modernization headroom.
- External Market Access: BNP Paribas contributes a proven, regulated custody and settlement footprint across multiple CSDs and CCPs.
Together, the arrangements are designed to deliver lower operating risk, quicker onboarding of new products and markets, and more predictable client service—while retaining flexibility to adapt to structure shifts.
What FNZ And BNP Paribas Each Bring
FNZ is a global platform provider for wealth and post-trade services. For UniCredit, FNZ’s strengths lie in a modular, API-first architecture, cloud deployment, and the ability to unify disparate post-trade processes—corporate actions, settlements, tax, and reporting—into a single operating model with bank-controlled data governance.
BNP Paribas Securities Services is a leading European global custodian, offering settlement and . For UniCredit, BNP Paribas’ value includes large-scale migrations, multi-source technology integration, and standardized custody operations across several high-volume EU markets.
Implications For Clients And The Market
For asset managers, corporates, and intermediaries using UniCredit for execution and asset servicing, the program targets smoother onboarding, more consistent settlement performance, and improved timeliness for corporate actions and reporting. For UniCredit, the structure allows cost discipline and scalability across business lines while maintaining direct oversight of service quality.
More broadly, the move reflects a sector trend: large while relying on global custodians’ networks for cross-border settlement, asset servicing, and market-specific operational resilience.
What Comes Next
As UniCredit progresses through migration waves, key milestones will include platform cutovers, phased country roll-outs, , and service-level tuning. The bank’s objective is to emerge with a simpler, quicker securities services stack—capable of supporting new products and regulatory timelines without extensive re-engineering.
