Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 24, 2026
3 min readLast updated: April 2, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleItaly will not join MPS’s board slate despite a 4.9% stake, while CEO Luigi Lovaglio seeks reappointment. A shortlist is due by March 5 pending ECB by-law approval, with Passera, Vivaldi and Palermo among candidates.
ROME/MILAN, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Italy will not take part in selecting a new board at Monte dei Paschi (MPS) despite its 4.9% stake in the bailed‑out lender where CEO Luigi Lovaglio is fighting for reappointment, three sources close to the matter said.
Italy returned MPS to private hands in 2023-2024 after rescuing it in 2017.
The Treasury won't seek board representation or back any of the other slates of candidates, respecting re-privatisation commitments taken with the European Union, the sources said, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Reuters reported in January that the Treasury was in favour of reappointing Lovaglio for another term.
VIABLE EXECUTIVE CANDIDATES
The bank's board on Friday selected an initial list of nominees for its renewal in April. The slate included Lovaglio and current Chairman Nicola Maione, but also other candidates with executive profiles.
Lovaglio, 70, has overseen the restructuring of MPS and its 16-billion-euro ($19 billion) share-and-cash takeover last year of bigger rival Mediobanca.
He has been endorsed by MPS' main shareholder Delfin but not by the bank's second-biggest investor, the construction magnate Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone.
The candidates who could potentially aspire to a bigger role than simple board members are former UniCredit executive Carlo Vivaldi, veteran banker Corrado Passera and Fabrizio Palermo, CEO at utility ACEA and a board member at insurer Generali, sources told Reuters last week.
By taking over Mediobanca, MPS has become the main investor in Generali alongside Delfin and Caltagirone.
Vivaldi, Passera and Palermo, together with Lovaglio and Maione, are expected to be part of a shortlist of 20 names, down from the current 30, one of the three sources said on Tuesday.
Maione is on course for reappointment, this source added.
Passera, 71, is not interested in a CEO role and would consider the chairmanship if Maione is not confirmed, a fourth source close to the matter said.
MPS's board faces a March 5 deadline to finalise its slate of nominees. The bank is still awaiting European Central Bank approval for the amended by-laws that would allow its outgoing board to indicate new directors.
In the wake of the Mediobanca takeover Lovaglio is due to present on Friday a new multi-year strategy for the combined entity, having secured board approval last week to acquire the remaining 14% of the merchant bank and take it private.
Italy's Treasury lost one of its representative on the MPS board, a senior official at the ministry, who stepped down from the bank's board due to a probe over alleged insider trading.
($1 = 0.8493 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za in Milan and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome, editing by Gavin Jones)
Italy will not take part in Monte dei Paschi’s board renewal despite a 4.9% stake, as CEO Luigi Lovaglio seeks another term and key investors line up their preferred candidates.
Rome is honoring re-privatisation commitments agreed with the EU, choosing not to seek board seats or back other slates even though it retains a minority stake.
The list features CEO Luigi Lovaglio and Chair Nicola Maione, plus executive profiles Corrado Passera, Carlo Vivaldi and Fabrizio Palermo, ahead of a March 5 shortlist.
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