Prospectus - Notowania

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RISK FACTORS
4.1.3 Risks associated with the assessment using financial models based on
assumptions, opinions and estimates on the assets held by the UniCredit Group
In observance of the regulations laid down by the International Accounting Standards,
the UniCredit Group, in the consolidated interim management report as at September
30, 2009, took steps to value the assets by means of financial models also based on
assumptions, opinions and estimates, in particular on structured credit instruments in
the portfolio, which were characterized by a lack of liquidity during the year. For such
purposes, under the co-ordination of the Issuer’s Risk Management division, a
uniform IPV process was approved for the various legal entities within the UniCredit
Group starting in March 2008 on a monthly basis. The IPV process sets itself the task
of classifying the financial instruments into 9 ranking categories which express the
levels of reliability of the prices observed on the market. Starting off with the
instruments listed by brokers and multiple counterparts, the process subsequently
defines less immediate liquidity classes which include the use of estimates deriving
from proxy assets until reaching mark-to-model hypotheses where the prices emerge
as particularly muffled.
This is joined by the determination of valuation price adjustments (Fair Value
Adjustments), which increase with the rise in the uncertainty of the price deriving
from absence of liquidity and from valuations based on models.
Therefore, the valuations carried out with reference to the financial instruments
mentioned above could in the future turn out to be unreliable if the market conditions
should undergo further changes.
In particular, in the case of structured credit products, as at September 30, 2009 the
Group presents exposure of €9,450 million (notional equal to €10,868 million), of
which €944 million is valued at fair value (notional equal to €1,532 million).
For more details, see First Section, Chapter 9.
4.1.4 Risks associated with the losses in value on goodwill (so-called impairment test)
With regard to all the recent acquisition transactions, the UniCredit Group capitalized
any goodwill relating to the assets acquired, understood to be the additional purchase
cost paid with respect to the book value of the shareholders’ equity, valued at fair
value. According to the general rules, initially the goodwill acquired is stated at cost
and, subsequently, at cost net of any losses in value (impairment). As laid down by the
IFRS accounting standards, the Group values the goodwill in relation to the loss in
value on an annual basis, or also more frequently, in association with the interim
results, when events or circumstances indicate the possibility of a loss in value.
When drawing up the consolidated management report as at September 30, 2009 – in
which the Group presented goodwill recorded for a total of around €20.4 billion –
considering that the impairment test on the goodwill had been carried out with
reference to the interim financial report as at June 30, 2009 and that no significant
changes in the underlying assumption as at June 30, 2009 has been observed, the
conditions for carrying out a new impairment test on the goodwill as at September 30,