The hour of reckoning in Piazza Meda seems to have finally arrived. In the afternoon, a delegation from Banca Popolare di Milano led by the president Massimo Ponzellini and the general manager Enzo Chiesa should present a governance project and a capital increase proposal to the Bank of Italy which does not implement the indications of via Nazionale. But before the meeting, the mosaic developed by the internal trade unions in Piazza Meda, starting with the Fabi, could be called into question precisely inside the Bank, where, on the initiative of the national secretariats, a sort of revolt against of the leaders of the "friends of the Bpm", Protagonists of the latest platform (indeed, of the latest division) set up on a busy Sunday.
The unions of the Bank, by now in open contrast with the national secretariats which do not exclude, in the face of the rigidity of the groups that command in Piazza Meda, to focus on the transformation of the cooperative into a joint-stock company, have developed during the weekend a governance dual which does not take into account the clear separation between the supervisory board and the management board, as explicitly requested by the Supervision of Bank of Italy.
In the management board, controlled by the internal unions, the role of managing director should fall to the current general manager Enzo Chiesa, who will hand over the current seat to Roberto Frigerio. Dante Razzano, ex Morgan Grenfell, will also join the board, on the recommendation of the future Azinist Adrea Bonomi. In the supervisory board, 17 members, solidly controlled by the unions, the president should be Bonomi himself (the financier who would participate with his Investindustrial in the capital increase), supported among other things by Amoruso d'Onofrio, who presented to Bonomi Daniele Ginese, one of the strong representatives of the "Friends of Bpm".
For the current president Massimo Ponzellini, who has certainly not been idle in recent weeks, an exit with a millionaire bonus is looming. In order to obtain consensus for the new proposal, a full assignment for the various functions within the institute would already be underway. It is unlikely that this project will pass the scrutiny of the supervisor Anna Maria Tarantola. No foreclosure towards Bonomi, but the inexperience of finance in banking matters and, above all, the modality of his entry under the protection of the various internal lobbies, cast serious doubts on the "discontinuity" necessary for the institution, which needs a robust recapitalization.
But a turnaround cannot be ruled out in the next few hours if the pressure from the national secretariats of the unions bears fruit, determined to do away with the costly anomaly of Piazza Meda once and for all. In the background remains the candidacy, appreciated by Bank of Italy and the national trade unions, and by Matteo Arpe, ready to enter the bank with an initial investment of 70-80 million and then participate pro rata in the next capital increase (with an outlay of between 100 and 120 million).
