UniCredit buys back Italian securities-services unit from Societe Generale

MILAN, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Italy's second-largest bank, UniCredit, said on Tuesday it was bringing its domestic securities services unit back in-house, two decades after outsourcing the business to Societe Generale.

The bank confirmed in a statement what Reuters had first reported late on Monday citing a union document.

"The transfer supports the ... bank's previously announced plan to internalise key back-office activities for securities services, establishing harmonised suppliers and processes across Italy and Germany and creating a more streamlined, resilient and scalable operating model," it said.

The unit, which looks after investors' securities and handles related administrative services, comprises 54 staff who will be transferred to UniCredit from Societe Generale Securities Services.

When Societe Generale acquired the business from UniCredit in 2006 the unit had a staff of 435. 

The transaction marked Societe Generale's entry into the Italian market. The French bank said earlier this month it had built solid client relationships in Italy over the past two decades and considered it a strategic market for the group.

 With nearly €6 trillion of assets under custody, Societe Generale is one of Europe's top three providers of securities services and ranks among the top 10 globally.

UniCredit said the move would support the creation of more than 200 roles, partly through the retraining of existing employees, as part of its securities services transformation programme.

(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Louise Heavens and Keith Weir)