Foster + Svensson reselects UniCredit as main bank in Serbia
Marking the 10th anniversary of cooperation, Foster + Svensson reselets UniCredit Bank as main financial and transactional partner in Serbia within recent pitch.
For us at Foster + Svensson, it is not the lowest price which we seek for, but rather high quality service and meeting of our standards in business cooperation. Our decade of cooperation with UniCredit Bank in Serbia spans over variety of financial and transactional products and services. Besides having high quality service, we also aim to cooperate with partners with good business reputation, brand and identity overall.
Supply chain sustainability is considered as priority for Foster + Svensson, where we aim to build competitive advantage though setting high requirements and first-class service for our clients. Partnerships and cooperation with suppliers are vital to achieving the responsible supply chain. We believe that our partners and suppliers must be briefed about the services we provide to provide us best possible proposal which will be acceptable by our clients. Such can be fulfilled by proper briefing, operational involvement, cooperation, constant project updates, supervision, rollout, delivery, and payment. In addition, we also expect that our partners and suppliers will be able to offer us best possible proposals.
That is why Foster + Svensson adopted IPS (Instant Payment Service) and use this service for payment towards its partners and suppliers. Our internal procedure policy allows us to use IPS service and perform payment to our partners and suppliers with no limited time frame. We support payment towards our partners and suppliers 24/7 not limiting payment on a certain day, weekends, or public holidays. As defined by National bank of Serbia, IPS is available to be used for domestic payments in Serbia with a payment limit no higher than 300.000 RSD per transaction, processed within 1-2 seconds. Foster + Svensson is using IPS service within its bank account at UniCredit Bank and providing payments towards its partners and suppliers 24/7 for provided services. During the pitch process we wanted reliable, secure and stable bank with its services, which will grant us full independency and possibility to manage our accounts by ourselves.
Business e-banking solution of UniCredit Bank and integration with our own internal systems is allowing us to easily track all AP’s, AR’s and costs made by employees, with less paperwork and more focus on digitalization and self-care, while being able to analyize costs, expenses and revenue. We also seek for travel perks and superior customer experience, as we have clients internationally with tendency and policy to travel a lot, where individual travel insurance and access to secured premium airport lounges for our employees were perceived as an competitive advantage, along with Concierge service and premium personal banking for our employees. Not only that we pitch and seek best possible business offer of our company, but also benefits in which our employees will be able to enjoy as well. And that is exactly what UniCredit Bank in Serbia had to offer.
Our selection process took few months, where we contacted several banks in Serbia, in order to receive and compare offers which will suit our needs and requirements. It is a great pleasure to continue cooperating with UniCredit Bank in Serbia, and where our bank account numbers and IBAN remain unchanged, while services are being upgraded. No matter how company size is, they will both grow if we become and act as partners on the market, the very same principle we apply for our clients.
We believe in reliable and fast supply chain, where we keep economy productive and sustainable by fulfilling our mutual obligations, payment of provided services and having financial hygiene factor set as high. Foster + Svensson aims to be a flagship company in Serbia, which will be a role model of corporate sustainability and high business standards by supporting local economy and people wellbeing. One more thing to be proud of.
UniCredit is a pan-European commercial bank with a unique service offering in Italy, Germany, Central and Eastern Europe. The purpose of UnCredit Bank is to empower communities to progress, delivering the best-in-class for all stakeholders, unlocking the potential of its clients and people across Europe. UniCredit Bank serves over 15 million customers worldwide. Digitalization and commitment to ESG principles are key enablers for the services of UniCredit. They help to deliver excellence to stakeholders and create a sustainable future for its clients, communities, and people. UniCredit Bank is the 5th largest bank¹ in Serbia by total balance sheet asset (actives in net thousands of RSD), and marked as systemically important bank² by National bank of Serbia with 2% of capital buffer rate. It is a predecessor of HVB Bank Serbia founded in 2001, and in 2007 merged with the operations of the Italian UniCredit Bank, the German HVB HypoVereinsbank and the Bank Austria Kreditensthalt (BA-CA), later being fully acquired by the UniCredit, an Italian banking group which owns 100% stake of the UniCredit Bank in Serbia, and which is 38th world largest banking group³ by total assets.
Marking the 10th anniversary of our cooperation, Foster + Svensson remained business client and reselets UniCredit Bank as main financial and transactional partner in Serbia, and also remain open – both for further collaboration with UniCredit and other banks.
¹Source: National Bank of Serbia (NBS). The data are based on the financial statements of banks which are obliged to submit to NBS. These statements have not been audited by external auditors and have not been verified by the NBS through on-site examination. Data updated od November 2, 2023 by NBS. After the acquisition of Eurobank Direktna by AIK Banka and approval of the NBS in November 2023, total assets of Eurobanka Direktna and AIK Banka are to be merged, which will lead to AIK Banka becoming the 3rd largest bank in Serbia, and where UniCredit Bank Srbija will move from 4th to 5th position in total by total balance sheet asset (actives in net thousands of RSD) as largest bank in Serbia.
²Source: National Bank of Serbia (NBS). The capital buffer for a systemically important bank applies as of June 30, 2017, and the NBS reviews the capital buffer for systemically important banks and the methodology for identification of systemically important banks at least annually. Pursuant to the Decision on Establishing a List of Systemically Important Banks in the Republic of Serbia and Capital Buffer Rates for those Banks of June 15, 2023, the systemically important banks and the capital buffer rates that these banks are obligated to maintain as of June 30, 2023 have been established. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a methodological framework for determining global systemic importance of banks in late 2011, and a framework for identifying the systemic importance of banks at the national level in late 2012. Principles of identification and capital buffers for a systemically important bank were introduced in the EU legal framework through the CRR/CRD IV set of regulations. Based on the above set of regulations, the European Banking Authority published precise guidelines for identifying systemically important financial institutions in 2014. They defined in detail the manner of implementing Article 131 of the Directive on capital requirements for credit institutions (CRD IV), which relates to systemically important financial institutions. In line with the above guidelines, in defining the criteria for determining systemically important banks, at least one of the following criteria must be used: size of a bank, importance for the economy, importance of cross-border activity of a bank, interconnectedness of a bank with the financial system, substitutability of a bank in the financial system or the complexity of a bank. Systemically important banks in Serbia are identified based on the criteria and mandatory indicators set out by the EBA guidelines.
³Source: S&P Global Market: The list is based on the April 2023 S&P Global Market Intelligence report of the 100 largest banks in the world. Total assets were taken on an “as-reported” basis, and no adjustments were made to account for differing accounting standards. The majority of the banks were ranked by total assets as of Dec. 31, 2022 and the data was compiled April 12, 2023.
ABOUT FOSTER + SVENSSON
Foster + Svensson is an award-winning European branding, communications, and advertising agency with heritage back in 1860 and founded in 2013 in Serbia, who put forward well-considered design, digital and innovation. Operating worldwide as part of Fosterova grupa, Foster + Svensson is positioned as professional services company, providing broad range of services and solutions in area of marketing. Having bold experience and specialized skills in more than 14 industries, agency provides services to all company sizes. People at Foster + Svensson design brands, use digital technology, data, and strategy to create contemporary visual identities, services, and experiences to help corporate clients improve their performance and manage sustainable business value for stakeholders. Foster + Svensson design and drive innovation to improve the way world works and lives. Agency approach is to be precise, punctual, and reliable to its clients, where it ran more than 2000 projects while working for major companies to be found in Fortune Global 500, such as HVB Group, UniCredit Group, Telenor Group, Ericsson, Apple, A1 Telekom Austria Group, RTS, Samsung, Cheil, Huawei, Hisense. Work culture and ethics includes business excellence and delivery of outperforming results.
Foster + Svensson is one of the founders of MAI Marina Abramović Institute.
