Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleMonte dei Paschi is set to appoint Vittorio Grilli as Mediobanca chair after acquiring the bank, marking a significant leadership change.
MILAN (Reuters) -Monte dei Paschi di Siena is expected to name JPMorgan banker Vittorio Grilli as the new Mediobanca chair, two people close to the matter have said, as it finalises its picks for the top jobs at the merchant bank it acquired this month.
Monte dei Paschi (MPS), of which the state still owns about 6%, last month concluded a 16 billion euro ($19 billion) share-and-cash offer for Mediobanca, securing 86.3% of its share capital and prompting the Mediobanca board to resign.
MPS must select a new chief executive and chairman for Mediobanca by October 3 before holding a shareholder vote to appoint a new board on October 28.
The sources said Grilli, a former economy minister, looked set to take the chair role. Grilli is currently Italy chairman at JPMorgan and head of the U.S. bank's corporate and investment banking for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
JPMorgan, which had no immediate comment, has advised Monte dei Paschi on the Mediobanca deal, together with Swiss bank UBS.
UBS Italy head Riccardo Mulone is on the shortlist for the role of Mediobanca chief executive, one of the two sources and a third person said. But they said Alessandro Melzi d'Eril, CEO of fund manager Anima Holding, appeared to be favourite for the job.
Monte dei Paschi is expected to finalise the proposals at a board meeting on Thursday or Friday.
On Tuesday, Mediobanca's top ranks travelled to Siena to meet Monte dei Paschi's senior executives and another meeting is scheduled in Milan next week as the banks, which have different business models, start tackling the integration process.
Under the leadership of Luigi Lovaglio, who arrived in Siena in 2022, MPS has finally turned a corner after a decade-long crisis that forced the state to bail it out in 2017.
After returning to profit in 2023 and paying its first dividend in 13 years, MPS launched its bid for Mediobanca in January, joining the consolidation wave sweeping Italian banking.
($1 = 0.8526 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za and Giuseppe Fonte; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Corporate governance refers to the systems, principles, and processes by which a company is directed and controlled. It encompasses the mechanisms through which stakeholders influence corporate behavior.
Share capital is the funds raised by a company in exchange for shares of stock. It represents the ownership equity in the company and can be used for various business activities.
A board of directors is a group of individuals elected to represent shareholders and oversee the activities of a company. They are responsible for making key decisions and ensuring the company's long-term success.
A merchant bank is a financial institution that provides capital to companies in the form of share ownership instead of loans. They also offer advisory services for mergers and acquisitions.
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