Coup de scene at the top of Banca Ifis, one of the most profitable and innovative banks in the system, which surprisingly fired its CEO, Giovanni Bossi, the undisputed architect of growth and the success of the bank specializing in the recovery of non-performing loans. The decision was made by the Furstenberg family, which through the financial company La Scogliera owns 50% of the bank, and in particular of the president Sebastien Furstenberg, the main shareholder of the Mestre bank, son of Clara Agnelli and nephew of the lawyer Gianni Agnelli.
Now Ernst Furstenberg, the thirty-seven-year-old son of the president and known for his activity as a music producer and DJ with the Ernest & Frank brand, could now enter the bank's board of directors: despite the soft words with which the bank informs of the changing of the guard speaking of "natural path of development in continuity", it may have been precisely the generational change that caused the disagreement that led to Bossi's departure. But at the basis of the divorce there are perhaps also various hypotheses of corporate restructuring.
Manager not yet sixty of Trieste origins, Bossi, who holds a significant shareholding (equal to 3,4%) in the bank, was in office for 8 mandates and for 24 years during which he led Banca Ifis towards goals of originally unthinkable growth to the point of making it one of the most dynamic realities in the banking world for an original business model based on the bank without branches but completely online. Recently, Banca Ifis, under the guidance of Bossi, had purchased Interbanca on very advantageous terms.
Today Banca Ifis capitalizes one billion euros on the Stock Exchange and has 1.800 employees and is on the way to approving a balance sheet with a profit of 146 million which will allow it to detach a record coupon of 1,05 euros per share.
Confirming his appreciation for the work done over many years, Sebastien Furstenberg, in a letter dated March 8, anticipated to Bossi "the decision of the majority shareholder not to present him on the list being defined which will be deposited in view of the meeting called to renew the board of directors" on 19 April.
The note continues by informing that Bossi, in order to guarantee "an orderly handover", he agreed to remain in office until the approval of the budget and the appointment of new corporate bodies. "I am leaving a solid, performing, profitable bank with a fantastic team of competent, young and well-prepared professionals able to continue current and future programs without any problems" said Bossi who, not having signed competition clauses, will probably return in the field elsewhere very soon.
