UniCredit’s Orcel takes charge of Italy in domestic drive

Andrea Orcel, then UBS main govt, leaves soon after attending a British isles parliamentary inquiry into Libor curiosity costs in London January 9, 2013. REUTERS/Olivia Harris

MILAN, July 6 (Reuters) – UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel has taken direct duty for running the Italian bank’s domestic small business, an interior memo showed, following the board eradicated Niccolo Ubertalli as its head.

Ubertalli’s surprise ousting will come all-around a yr just after he was appointed as head of Italy and follows the current exits of other lengthy-standing senior UniCredit executives.

Orcel, previous head of financial investment banking at Swiss financial institution UBS (UBSG.S), took over as UniCredit’s chief government in April 2021 and set about reshuffling its senior management team, together with by bringing in former UBS colleagues.

Ubertalli, who experienced been tipped as an inside applicant to the CEO job when Orcel acquired the job, did not instantly reply to a ask for of comment.

UniCredit, which is Italy’s second most significant bank, is however going through a phase of interior adjustment beneath the new leadership workforce, a few people with expertise of the subject said.

The board’s choice to strip Ubertalli of his job with rapid effect follows friction in excess of tactic, the folks mentioned, requesting anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject.

As Italy-centered group CEO, Orcel already performs duties that in other nations around the world exactly where UniCredit operates are performed by local CEOs, these types of as conferences with large corporate customers or authorities ministers, a further two persons near to the make a difference mentioned.

Reversing a selection by his predecessor to operate Italy as part of a Western Europe professional banking division together with Germany and Austria, Orcel experienced entrusted it to Ubertalli, who was then the co-head of Central Jap Europe.

Immediately after Jean Pierre Mustier’s endeavours to length UniCredit from its financial debt-laden home marketplace, which the previous CEO observed as a resource of vulnerability, Orcel experienced promised as a substitute a renewed focus on Italy and has been performing to regain market place share.

“We are ready to additional greatly enhance Italy’s presence at a team amount, enabling it to go more rapidly in its transformation … while navigating the expected risky ecosystem,” the inside memo viewed by Reuters said.

“As these types of, the board has resolved to make the role of Head of Italy section of the group CEO’s direct remit,” it added.

The final decision around Ubertalli follows the departure of UniCredit’s Main Working Officer Ranieri de Marchis in May possibly and that of Andrea Maffezzoni, UniCredit’s head of general performance management and former M&A chief in June.

“The success of Italy is essential to the achievements of our
team … Bringing our Italian business enterprise less than the remit of the group CEO will cement this alignment,” Chairman Pier Carlo Padoan and Orcel claimed in the message to personnel.

Remo Taricani, the head of UniCredit’s professional network in Italy, will support Orcel by turning out to be deputy head of Italy.

Reporting by Valentina Za Enhancing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Alexander Smith

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