milan dec 6 reuters  andrea orcel must convince unicredit crdimi investors that he can deliver on a promise to grow the italian bank profitably when he presents its new strategy next week and after spurning a merger with stateowned monte dei paschi bmpsmi the chief executive is still battling with a 40 discount to the sector sx7p as unicredit shares trade around at around 20 below precovid levels the pandemic had derailed plans by orcels predecessor jean pierre mustier for dividends and share buybacks to win over investors but plans to return excess capital to shareholders are firmly in sight now that regulators have lifted curbs a large upfront buyback combined to 50 payout ratio would reposition unicredit on the olympus of capital return gods mediobanca securities analysts said ahead of the strategy presentation scheduled for dec 9 jpmorgan on monday forecast a 3 billion euro extraordinary share buyback by italys secondbiggest bank through 2024 after mustiers costcutting orcel who was appointed ceo in april is also expected to set unicredit on course for revenue and profit growth the former head of investment banking at ubs has said he could consider mergers and acquisitions to fasttrack growth but italys treasury failed to meet his terms for mps meanwhile a rally in takeover target banco bpm bamimi has taken the shine off another potential deal while he waits for rising interest rates to boost unicredits lending business orcel is reviewing the partnerships the bank relies upon for its fee income sources have said unicredit is set to streamline its insurance partnerships in italy and may consider bringing inhouse in twotothree years time the jointventure with cnp assurances cnpppa read more it is also renegotiating the terms of the accord with amundi the asset manager of credit agricole cagrpa that acquired rival pioneer from unicredit in 2017 orcel has ruled out buying businesses that would allow unicredit to distribute its own wealth management or insurance products he is working instead on smoothly plugging products supplied by partners into unicredits systems under a digital revamp that constitutes a key plank of the new plan three people with knowledge of the matter said busy cleaning up their balance sheets in recent years from the debris of a deep recession italian banks are now stepping up it investments to ride changes brought about by the pandemic in a country that is a european connectivity laggard signalling a strong focus on technology orcel has named as unicredits digital and information officer jingle pang who oversaw the fintech transformation of chinese insurer ping an technology has only now become a top priority for italian banks they had to tackle other issues first said claudio torcellan oliver wymans partner in charge of financial services for south eastern europe net interest income will recover at some point but higher rates will hurt trading gains on government bonds and possibly fees cost of risks is also bottoming out it investments will have to continue rising orcel has said he is striving to offset the cost of such investments with other savings unicredit is considering 3000 voluntary redundancies under the new plan mostly in corporate centres sources have said read more