“We need another Guzzetti”, is the inevitable refrain that for at least ten years has accompanied all the events of Acri, the association that brings together banking foundations and savings banks. And so it was yesterday too, on the occasion of the traditional Savings Day, celebrated in Rome with a conference characterized as usual by the discussion between the Governor of the Bank of Italy and the Minister of the Economy, preceded by the intervention of the president of the Abi and opened, as always, by the president of Acri, Giuseppe Guzzetti.
Guzzetti, former president of the Lombardy Region and senator of the DC left, president of the Cariplo Foundation and president of Acri since 2000, is much loved in banks and banking foundations, of which he is a bit the father together with their creator Giuliano Amato and is esteemed by all for his political lucidity, his balance and his absolute correctness, but he is 83 and a half years old, even if worn very well. With the entry of the Foundations into the capital of the banks, Guzzetti has contributed over the years to the growth and security of the banking system but also to the creation of the Cassa depositi e prestiti set up by the then minister Giulio Tremonti, and to the support of countless initiatives voluntariness, subsidiarity and modern philanthropy, from assistance to the elderly to social housing for young couples.
It goes without saying that a person like Guzzetti is irreplaceable by definition but, in his political wisdom, the president of Acri is discreetly probing the Foundations to build his succession in time and in the most shared way possible, testifying to the vitality of the Foundations themselves.
Until some time ago it seemed that the candidate for Guzzetti's succession to the presidency of Acri was the president of the Fondazione della Cassa di Risparmio di Parma and the Monte di credito su plegno di Busseto (i.e. Cariparma), Paolo Andrei but the engineer- professor has been appointed Rector of the University of Parma and all his activity has been concentrated on the academy since XNUMX November.
To date, according to what was heard whispering in the corridors of the Angelicum, where Savings Day was celebrated yesterday, in pole position for the presidency of Acri is the former minister of Education and University of the Monti government and former president of the Cnr: Francesco Profumo, from Turin, 64 years old and current president of the Compagnia Sanpaolo, who is the first shareholder of the Intesa Sanpaolo banking group (9,20% of the capital), alongside the Cariplo di Guzzetti Foundation (4,8. 3,2%) and of the Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo Foundation (XNUMX%)i .
The succession, which seems to find broad consensus among the Foundations, is not for today and could take place in 2019, when Guzzetti's last mandate expires. But two years is a long time to go.
