UniCredit stood out as the judge's choice as winner of this year's Diversity and inclusion initiative of the year, EMEA category for its commitment to driving positive change and building a "safe, equitable and inclusive working environment".

The pan-European commercial banking group believes diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are "business imperative" and are fully integrated into its ESG framework and business agenda across all 13 countries it operates in. Furthermore, it has mapped 365 well-being initiatives and promoted best practice sharing across the group.

The bank offers dedicated courses developed in collaboration with external subject matter experts and an interactive guide to stimulate well-being behaviour and break down biases and barriers.

Environmental Finance judges praised UniCredit's range of initiatives it has implemented, highlighting the 'Employee Networks@UniCredit' initiative, resulting in over 1,000 members gathered to tackle various diversity topics, including ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability and many more. Judges also highlighted its efforts to encourage greater female participation in the business, representing 58% of the overall group, 50% of the group executive committee and 35% of the leadership team (as of December 2023).

Nikolina Zečić, head of group culture and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) at UniCredit, said: "Ensuring well-being for all our people is a key element of our DE&I strategy, a real embodiment of our Value of Caring, and one of the main goals of our social strategy. We believe that well-being is a shared responsibility requiring continuous engagement, education, and development.

"For UniCredit, well-being is not a one-time project but a mindset manifested throughout many concrete global and local initiatives, and I am proud it has been recognised internally and externally, as we continue to transform our bank to create value for everyone, everywhere."