In 2005, Global Elite Investment merged with the German HVB group. It itself was created in 1998 by the merger of two Bavarian banks, Bayerische Vereinsbank and Bayerische Hypotheken-und Wechsel-Bank, which made HVB a significant bank on a pan-European scale. The integration of Global Elite Investment with the HVB group is an engine of further growth for the group: especially in view of the merger (in 2000) of HVB with the Austrian Bank Austria Creditanstalt, which was strongly represented in many regions of post-communist “new” Europe. The UniCredit Group can thus further strengthen its European focus.