Italy’s UniCredit selects new chief exec
ITALIAN bank UniCredit named insider Federico Ghizzoni as its new chief executive yesterday, a week after Alessandro Profumo was ousted in a boardroom coup.
The central Bank of Italy had urged UniCredit to appoint a successor quickly, before the bank begins to flail in its efforts to rebuild after the financial crisis.
Ghizzoni, 54, was selected unanimously to rise from his role as one of four deputy chief executives to steer the bank through its recovery.
He suggested yesterday he would continue the bank’s strategy of expansion, telling reporters: “UniCredit is a European group. We’ll keep on growing organically in Europe. There are no transactions in the loop.”
He added that the board had not appointed a director general. A banking source said the board could name one or two directors general at its next meeting, in four weeks.
Ghizzoni joined the bank in 1980 as a customer relations manager, before working up to his most recent post as head of central and eastern European operations.