MILAN (Reuters Breakingviews) - The wacky race to replace ousted boss Jean Pierre Mustier at $21 billion UniCredit is in full swing. Headhunters are sounding out high-level executives such as former UBS investment banking head Andrea Orcel and ex-Credit Suisse boss Tidjane Thiam, as well as a raft of Italy-based bankers. The list of genuinely credibly candidates is somewhat shorter.
Mustier, due to leave in April, saved Italy’s No.2 bank from near-collapse and rebuilt its depleted capital base. But the French executive eventually clashed with the board over M&A strategy. Under Mustier, UniCredit’s shares fell 18%, underperforming a 16% rise at acquisitive Italian rival Intesa Sanpaolo.
Mustier’s ideal successor would need the same high international standing. But he or she would ideally be better able to navigate Italy’s intricate political and financial landscape, have hands-on experience of commercial banking and a collegiate approach to board relations.
Scant Italy knowledge immediately rules out heavyweights like former Commerzbank boss Martin Blessing, as well as Thiam, who in any case left Credit Suisse amid a spying scandal. Italian-born Orcel has the opposite problem. In 2007, while at Merrill Lynch, he orchestrated Banco Santander’s chunky 9 billion euro sale of Banca Antonveneta to Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Given that deal is one of the reasons MPS is a perpetual basket case - and now a possible UniCredit target – his local knowledge is a double-edged sword.
Orcel has also recently squabbled with Santander after the Spanish bank U-turned on a plan to employ him as CEO. To join UniCredit, he would have to drop a 100 million euro lawsuit against the group and any deferred compensation still due from UBS. His annual fixed compensation at UniCredit would be more like 2 million euros.
Mediobanca’s boss Alberto Nagel is known at home and abroad, without being too political. After two decades at the $8 billion Milanese boutique bank that he overhauled, taking UniCredit’s top job would represent a step up and an exit strategy. Yet, he does not appear to be on the short list.
That leaves Fabio Gallia. As head of BNP Paribas’ Italian unit, he has the commercial banking experience that Orcel lacks. He also led digital bank Fineco. His recent time at sovereign investor Cassa Depositi e Prestiti offered him a window into Rome politics. He looks to be one of the few contenders who ticks all the boxes.
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