Frankfurt - UniCredit, the Italian group which is the biggest banking operator in eastern Europe, is to keep up its German brand, HypoVereinsbank (HVB), chief executive Alessandro Profumo said Thursday.

"Maybe it will exist forever, maybe not," he said. But there were no plans for the time being to rebrand HVB banks as UniCredit branches, he told a Frankfurt conference on banking organized by the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

Profumo said a bank could not operate under two different brands in the same country.

UniCredit has become a major force in German banking since it took over Munich-based HVB, adding to its stable of retail banks throughout central and eastern Europe. (dpa)