For the quarter period ended on 31 March 2012, its adjusted net profit, excluding gains from the buyback of Tier I and Upper Tier II securities, declined by 45.2% to €444m from €810m during the same quarter last year.

The firm said that decline in adjusted net profit has been backed by volatile financial markets and the continuing deterioration across Europe of the macro-economic environment.

According to the financial data released by the Italian Bank, its pre-tax profit stood at €1.88bn, up by 26.2% from €1.49bn during the corresponding quarter last year.

Compared to the first quarter of 2011, its current quarter net interest income declined by 2.4% to €3.79bn from €3.88bn, and net fees and commissions fell by 5.7% to €2bn from €2.12bn.

For the latest quarter period, its revenues stood at €7.1bn, up by 2.5% versus revenues of €6.93bn during the first quarter of last year.

UniCredit CEO Federico Ghizzoni said other capital strengthening measures such as the subordinated bonds buyback in February, has led the company to stay ahead of schedule of its 2012 Basel 3 CET 1 target of 9%.

The bank said that its negative interbank position declined to €49.4bn compared to €75.4bn in the previous quarter, attributed by positive net liquidity inflows from customers.