Unipol Gruppo S.p.A. is an Italian

financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

operating in the

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

and

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

fields with headquarters in the

Unipol Tower Unipol Tower is a 33-story skyscraper located at Via Larga in Bologna, Italy. Rising to a height of approximately , the building serves as the new headquarters of Unipol Bank and includes office and retail space in its square metres of floor ar ...

, Bologna. As of 2009 it was ranked as the country's fourth-largest insurer. The company trades under a number of brands: for insurance it uses the brands UnipolSai Assicurazioni, Linear Assicurazioni, Linear Life, UniSalute and Arca Vita.

History

Unipol Assicurazioni was founded in 1962 in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

as a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

provider of

non-life insurance General insurance or non-life insurance policy, including automobile and homeowners policies, provide payments depending on the loss from a particular financial event. General insurance is typically defined as any insurance that is not determine ...

. In 1995 the company entered a partnership arrangement with the banking group

Casse Emiliano Romagnole Gruppo Bancario Casse Emiliano Romagnole (CAER) was an Italian holding company and banking group, based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The main company of the group was Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna (Carisbo). History Due to Legge Amato, all saving b ...

, whereby Unipol sold its products through the bank's networks. The partnership also involved complex deals in ownership. As at 31 December 1995, Unipol owned 3.64% shares of CAER; CAER in turn owned 9.80% shares of Unipol's parent company Finsoe. CAER also owned Banca dell'Economia Cooperativa through 6.99% shares owned by CAER directly, as well as an additional 13% shares of the bank owned by CAER's subsidiary

Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna S.p.A. known as Carisbo, was an Italian savings bank based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The bank was part of Intesa Sanpaolo Group since 2007. The former owner of the bank, Fondazione Carisbo, still held 2.023% shares ...

(Carisbo). Through Carisbo's subsidiary, FINCAER, the bank group also purchased a minority ownership from Unipol in UniSalute (9.9%) and in

Noricum Assicurazioni Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, ...

(34%), In 1996 FINCAER had a minority ownership in

Linear Assicurazioni Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship (''function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear r ...

(20%), as well as the ownership in Noricum which increased to 44%. Since 1998 Unipol started to build their own bank networks, to sell their own products, which gave birth to

Unipol Banca Unipol Banca S.p.A. was an Italian bank based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, prior to its acquisition by BPER Banca from the Unipol group in 2019. On 25 November 2019, Unipol Banca was fully incorporated into BPER Banca and ceased to exist as a sepa ...

. In the same year Unipol founded a 50-50 joint venture company Quadrifoglio Vita with

Banca Agricola Mantovana Banca Agricola Mantovana S.p.A. (BAM) was an Italian bank based in Mantua, Lombardy. The bank was a subsidiary of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. On 31 March 2008 the bank had a total assets of €13,502,864,975. History Found 1871 as Banca Agri ...

. In December 2000 Unipol purchased 51% shares of BNL Vita, a joint venture with

Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (BNL) is an Italian bank headquartered in Rome. It is Italy's sixth largest bank and has been a subsidiary of BNP Paribas since 2006. History Founded in 1913 as Istituto Nazionale di Credito per la Cooperazione, ...

from

Assicurazioni Generali Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. ( , ; meaning 'general insurances') or simply Generali Group is an Italian insurance company based in Trieste. As of 2019, it is the largest of its kind in Italy and among the top ten largest insurance companies in ...

. In 2001 Unipol bought back the 9.9% shares of UniSalute and 20% of Linear Assicurazioni.

Cardine Banca Cardine Banca S.p.A. was an Italian banking group found in 2000 by the merger of Casse Emiliano Romagnole and Casse Venete Banca. On 1 June 2002 the group was acquired by Sanpaolo IMI in an all shares deal. In 2000 Banca Agricola di Gorizia was ...

(ex-CAER) also sold all the shares of Unipol Banca and Finsoe to third parties.

2000s

In December 2003 Unipol subscribed to the capital increases of

Reti Bancarie Reti Bancarie S.p.A. was an intermediate holding company of Banca Popolare di Lodi Group (aka Bipielle; BPL). BPL's subsidiary reverse takeover listed company Banco di Chiavari e della Riviera Ligure in 2003. in 2006 it was absorbed into BPL. Hist ...

, a sub-holding company of

Banca Popolare Italiana Banca Popolare di Lodi was an Italian cooperative bank based in Lodi, Lombardy. The bank was absorbed into parent company Banco Popolare in 2011. However, the bank still operates as a division and a brand of the group. History Banca Popolare di ...

for €173.4 million. In return

Aurora Assicurazioni An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

got the rights to sell their products in the bank networks of Reti Bancarie. BPI was involved in a failed takeover of Antonveneta, part of the ''

bancopoli "Bancopoli" was the name coined by the Italian press for the finance and banking scandals between July 2005 and January 2006. The Italian Banca Popolare Italiana (BPI), in competition with Holland's ABN AMRO for control of Banca Antonveneta, was ...

'' that was exposed in 2005. In early 2006 Unipol's takeover bid of

was rejected by the

Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy (Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', informally referred to as ''Bankitalia''), (), is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, via Nazionale, Rome. The bank's curre ...

. BNL was acquired by

BNP Paribas BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the grou ...

instead, consequently the French company acquired 4.5% shares of Unipol's parent company Finsoe. After the failed takeover bid Unipol saw its CEO

Giovanni Consorte Giovanni Consorte (born 16 April 1948) is an Italian manager. Career Born in Chieti, Consorte graduated in chemical engineering at the University of Bologna in 1972 and headed Montedison from 1973 to 1975, then Lega delle Cooperative from 19 ...

resign in the midst of the ''

'' scandal. Consorte was later convicted for

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider information ...

. Under Consorte's replacements Pierluigi Stefanini and Carlo Salvatori, the company underwent extensive

restructuring Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. Other reasons ...

in 2007. Under the restructure scheme, Unipol Assicurazioni (also known as Compagnia Assicuratrice Unipol) was to be renamed as Unipol Gruppo Finanziario, and a new subsidiary

Unipol Assicurazioni Unipol Gruppo S.p.A. is an Italian financial services holding company operating in the insurance and banking fields with headquarters in the Unipol Tower, Bologna. As of 2009 it was ranked as the country's fourth-largest insurer. The company tr ...

would be set up. As at 31 December 2007 the holding company controlled five insurance companies: Unipol Assicurazioni (100%), Aurora Assicurazioni (100%),

(100%), Navale Assicurazioni (99.83%) and UniSalute (98.48%). In 2008 Quadrifoglio Vita was sold to

AXA Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

. In 2010 a 60% stake of

Arca Vita ARCA or Arca may refer to: Companies * Arca-Filmproduktion GmbH, the German film production company of Gero Wecker * Arca Fondi SGR, Italian asset management company * Arca South, an industrial estate in the Philippines * ARCAspace, an aeros ...

was bought from

Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna BPER Banca S.p.A., formerly known as Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna S.C., is an Italian banking group offering traditional banking services to individuals, corporate and public entities. The company is based in Modena and is a constituent of ...

(BPER) and

Banca Popolare di Sondrio Banca Popolare di Sondrio S.C.p.A. (BPSO) is an Italian bank based in Sondrio, Lombardy. The company was included in FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index. History Banca Popolare di Sondrio was an urban cooperative bank found in 1871. Along with Credito Valte ...

(BPSO); a 31.56% minority stake of Arca Assicurazioni was acquired from BPER, BPSO,

Banca Popolare di Marostica Banca may refer to: Places * Bangka Island, an island lying east of Sumatra, part of Indonesia * Banca, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département'', France * Banca, Tasmania, a locality in Tasmania, Australia * ...

Credito Siciliano Credito Siciliano was an Italian bank headquartered in Acireale, Sicily and previously Palermo. It was a subsidiary of Credito Valtellinese until its merger by incorporation into Credito Valtellinese in June 2018. The bank had 136 branches, 133 lo ...

and

Banca Popolare Sant'Angelo Banca Popolare Sant'Angelo S.C.p.A. is an Italian cooperative bank based in Licata (in the Province of Agrigento) and Palermo, the capital of Sicily (in the province of the same name). The bank also has one branch in Lampedusa, the south most isla ...

. In 2011 BNP Paribas bought back BNL Vita from Unipol. In 2014 ewUnipol Assicurazioni, a subsidiary of Unipol was merged with

Milano Assicurazioni ''Milano Assicurazioni'' was an Italian financial services company based in Milan, Italy. The company was particularly active in the insurance sector, where it underwrites life, property, casualty and marine cover. In 1992 Roberto Pontremoli ...

, Premafin (a holding company related to Fondiaria-Sai) and

Fondiaria-Sai Fondiaria-Sai S.p.A. was an Italian financial services company based in Turin, founded in 2002 by the merger of La Fondiaria Assicurazioni and Società Assicuratrice Industriale. In 2014 the company was merged by incorporation of Unipol Assicura ...

to form UnipolSai.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1963 Insurance companies of Italy Companies based in Bologna Holding companies established in 2007 Holding companies of Italy Unipol Group Cooperatives in Italy