External auditors of listed companies are required to be entered to a special Register kept by Consob. During the financial year they are required to check that:
- the company’s accounts are properly kept and that events and transactions are correctly represented in the accounting records;
- the company's annual accounts and consolidated accounts correspond to its accounting records and to the results of the auditors' tests, and that they comply with the relevant laws and regulations.
Additionally, on Consob’s recommendation, the external auditors shall also carry out:
- a limited review of the consolidated first-half report.
An auditing firm was appointed to perform the above tasks by UniCredit’s Shareholders on 4 May 2004. At their General Meeting held on 10 May 2007 and in line with the Board of Statutory Auditors’ proposal, this audit appointment was extended until approval of the 2012 financial year accounts. Recent regulations (Legislative Decree 303/06) introduced the possibility of extending external auditor appointments to a non-renewable maximum duration of nine years.
The auditing firm currently appointed by UniCredit as its external auditors is KPMG S.p.A. whose address is as follows:
Via Vittor Pisani, 25
20124 Milano
Tel. 02 67631
www.kpmg.it
The following table gives fees paid in 2008 for audit services rendered by KPMG S.p.A. and firms in its network:
| SERVICE TYPE | SERVICE PROVIDER | USER | FEES (€ '000) (1) |
|---|
| Audit (2) | KPMG S.p.A. | Parent-UniCredit S.p.A. | 1,330 |
| KPMG S.p.A. | Subsidiaries | 3,892 |
| KPMG network | Subsidiaries | 22,129 |
Certification, letters of comfort
etc. | KPMG S.p.A. | Parent-UniCredit S.p.A. (3) | 3,171 |
| KPMG S.p.A. | Subsidiaries (4) | 755 |
| KPMG network | Parent-UniCredit S.p.A. | 0 |
| KPMG network | Subsidiaries (5) | 3,895 |
| Other services | KPMG S.p.A. | Parent-UniCredit S.p.A. | 94 |
| KPMG S.p.A. | Subsidiaries | 89 |
| KPMG network | Subsidiaries (6) | 3,379 |
| Total | 38,734 |
(1) Excl. VAT and Expenses.
(2) Does not include fees for audits of investment funds.
(3) Checking projected figures in the rights issue Prospectus and comfort letter; auditing consolidated interim report at Sept. 30, 2008, comfort letters and sustainability report.
(4) Report as required by § 2501-sexies Civil Code on the Locat/UniCredit Global Leasing share swap ratio, under appointment by the Courts of Bologna: €720k
(5) Auditing interim reports at Sept. 30, 2008: €1,684k; checks required by local regulations: €1,232k (mainly Germany, Austria and Ukraine); and checks performed on Bank Pekao: € 482k.
(6) Mainly assistance provided to HypoVereinsBank on implementation of the MIB Accounting and Governance, MIB Trading Book, Eurosig and Project 2S Caceis procedures and other activity: €2,767k; and tax services: €143k.
