Italy's UniCredit says it will cut 8000 jobs and close 500 branches over the next three years as part of a programme to boost shareholder value.

The bank's 'Team 23' programme aims to increase net profit to EUR5 billion by 2023 and enable it to return EUR8 billion to shareholders through buybacks.



To help achieve this, there will be major job cuts and branch closures in Italy, as well as some in Germany and Austria.



Meanwhile UniCredit has set a target of increasing the percentage of customers that banks digitally from 45% to 60%.