Ukrsotsbank Internship Journal: The 3-Day Work Week

This past week at my internship was much shorter than usual, with only three working days as a result of Orthodox Ascension on Monday, 24 June, and then Ukraine’s Constitution Day on Friday, 28 June. However, while the work week was 40% shorter, I was still quite busy in the PR Department with a new translation project—this time from English to Russian!

On Tuesday, upon coming into work, Маша (one of the ladies who works in my sub-department) asked me to translate the entirety of an internal PR document outlining how to use the yearly Local Sustainability Report. The report details what UniCredit/Ukrsotsbank did over the past year in order to ensure financial stability as well as environmental sustainability, both in terms of the business environment and the natural environment. However, while the basic structure and outline of the report is prepared centrally by UniCredit, country-specific details need to be filled in the PR department of each department. This allows the document to speak much more directly and closely to stakeholders and investors in each individual country in which the UniCredit Group operates, since there are often large differences between banking and finance operations between countries in Europe, especially in terms of sustainability initiatives. Thus, the bank essentially needs to have a report about how to use another report!

Translating the guidelines for the local sustainability report proved challenging almost immediately, simply because of the large number of rather cumbersome English phrases and somewhat unusual words in the document. However, a combination of my own knowledge, Google Translate, and cross-checking with my colleagues allowed me to get through the first three pages before the short week ended. I still have the bulk of the document to translate next week.

Additionally, I checked the English translation of a press release about the new internet banking services being started by Ukrsotsbank in Ukraine. I found a handful of relatively minor errors or oddly phrased expressions, but in general I found it more interesting to learn more about the development of online banking and commerce in Ukraine. Online business and financial transactions are increasing rapidly here, and it is good to see that Ukrsotsbank and UniCredit are committed to providing technologically updated client services to the people of Ukraine. I still think that the bank should develop a mobile banking app though…

Anyway, I certainly didn't mind not having to work Friday afternoon, and ended up using my free time to meet up with Yurii, the only other guy in my part of the office, for a free beach party near the Dnieper River. Unfortunately, after only about an hour it started to rain heavily, which ended up leading to quite an adventure...but that's maybe a topic for another post.

Ukrostsbank Internship Journal

Since I have to keep a weekly journal of what I do at my internship anyway, in order to receive academic credit through The School of Russian and Asian Studies (SRAS), I figured I'd just make my journal entries the regular Monday post here on SMTC for the remainder of my time in Ukraine.

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Ukrsotsbank Internship Journal
17.06.2013 – 21.06.2013

This was my second full week in the PR Department, and I felt like I finally began to settle into a regular routine. I started off the week by finishing up the English version of my PowerPoint report/presentation on the potential PR-related problems that Uksotsbank could face in the near future during its legal merger with UniCredit Bank. I had started to translate it into Russian as extra practice, but just decided to refine and simplify it in English and give it to Nastya, my manager, as soon as possible. She was very happy to receive it, and told me it was very excellent work.

My next project was to condense the bank’s long and detailed political risk report for Ukraine—which is prepared for shareholders and investors every year—into a shorter and more readable single-page document. The original idea for the project was actually mine; I had seen the new reports lying in the office and, being naturally intrigued, picked one up and began reading. While I found it very interesting, I also thought it a bit too detailed for its purpose…and if I, a history major, thought it was overwhelming, then what were other people going to think? Thus I approached my managers and asked if I could condense the political and economic information presented in the report to one page. My idea was well-received and after a couple hours I finished my “executive summary” version of the report. Hopefully it will allow investors and businessmen—Ukrainian, American, and others—to make better-informed decisions.

Next, my managers asked me to prepare, in English, short slide deck with finance definitions for kids. Ukrsotsbank/UniCredit is developing some new marketing materials aimed at making finance fun and easily comprehensible for young children, in the form of children’s books. After doing extensive research on the internet about best practices for explaining banking to children, I put together a short slide deck that defined such basic terms and concepts as currency, deposits, credits, debits, debt, etc. Not exactly an extremely challenging project, but interested nonetheless.

My final project of the week, on Friday, was to translate a press release about the recent awards Ukrsotsbank/UniCredit has received from Global Finance magazine. Unlike most of my translation work to date, this time I was translating from English to Russian. It was obviously much more difficult, and took me the better part of the afternoon to finish, but I was able to deliver what I deemed to be an accurate translation by the end of the working day. I will see what Yurii, who handles most of the press releases, has to say about it on Tuesday, since we have a long weekend this week.

In addition to the four concrete tasks outlined above, I also kept my superiors updated on external PR developments I noted. For example, I purchased the Ukrainian business magazine Власть Денег (“The Power of Money”) last weekend, and among the many reviews and ratings of various finance and credit terms, I found an article which ranked Ukrsotsbank #1 in Ukraine for long-term loans and mortgages. When I showed it to Nastya, she had not heard anything about it from the external PR team, so she was very grateful for the article as it was excellent PR material. It seems my extra efforts to learn about business in Ukraine outside of my internship and classes are paying off in unexpected ways at the office.

Ukrsotsbank & UniCredit: The Name Game

Well, after the fourth day at my internship in Kiev, I have finally sorted out the identity of my current employer, and now understand the hidden complexities behind the names of both <<Ukrsotsbank>> and it's sister corporation, <<UniCredit Bank.>>

In starting my new project about the PR and corporate identity challenges that both banks will face during their upcoming (and long-awaited) merger, I researched the history of UniCredit Group's operations in Ukraine. While this might be somewhat boring for some readers of my blog, I nonetheless wanted to post about it, if only to explain the history for my own benefit.

In 2007, the bulge-bracket Italian bank UniCredit Group (sometimes referred to as just "the Group" here) was operating in Ukraine through three different banks: UniCredit Bank (originally established in 1997 with Polish capital); the branches of HVB Bank Ukraine; and the branches of PJSC Ukrsotsbank, set up in 1990. The latter two banks were acquired by UniCredit Group within Ukraine. However, while HVB was quickly merged with UniCredit under the latter name, Ukrsotsbank--which UniCredit purchased from famous Ukrainian billionaire and oligarch Viktor Pinchuk for $2.07 billion--retained its former name, both operationally and legally. Since Ukrsotsbank had better name and brand recognition in Ukraine than HVB did, it made sense at the time.

Ukrsotsbank was one of the few banks in Eastern Europe to remain strong and profitable during the global recession--no small feat, to be sure. It was regarded as one of the strongest, if not necessarily largest, banks in Ukraine, with one of the most sound balance sheets and capital reserves. However, in 2011 UniCredit Group announced that it was rebranding Ukrsotsbank under the UniCredit Bank name, as simply the next step in the strategic integration process of UniCredit operations in Ukraine. Since then, all Ukrsotsbank branches bear the UniCredit name, thought legally the company is still PJSC Ukrsotsbank, and the shares on the Ukrainian national stock exchange trade under the Ukrsotsbank name.

Hence, the confusion over the identity of Ukrsotsbank vis-a-vis UniCredit Bank vis-a-vis UniCredit Group.

Italian parent banking group, which previously operated in Ukraine through....

 HVB Bank merged with UniCredit Bank in 2007...

leaving two bank brands...

And soon, Ukrsotsbank will merge with UniCredit Bank, leaving only the UniCredit Bank name in Ukraine 

A formal, legal merger of Ukrsotsbank and UniCredit Bank was announced at the time of the rebranding, but like all merger processes--especially in finance--it has taken longer than expected to complete. However, the merger is expected to be complete sometime in the next year, and my current project at the Corporate Identity office of Ukrsotsbank is to investigate and report out about various PR and client/investor relations issues the bank might face during the merger process.

In conducting the research for my project, I came to realize that my previous posts here on Send Me the Cabbage were inaccurate. Technically--legally speaking--I am currently interning at PJSC Ukrsotsbank, which operates under the UniCredit Bank name; and both Ukrsotsbank and UniCredit Bank are subsidiary operations of UniCredit Group.

Понятно?

To play off of an old Foxtrot comic...the key to working in corporate identity is knowing the identity of your corporation. I'm hopeful I can help guide Ukrsotsbank and UniCredit clients and shareholders through the merger process and help strengthen the market share of the UniCredit Group here in Ukraine.