GUTTY INSTALLED AS GENERALI CHAIRMAN AMID INFIGHTING

Following his recent nomination by Italian insurer Generali’s leading shareholder, investment bank Mediobanca, Gianfranco Gutty has been installed as chairman of Generali at its annual shareholders’ meeting. His appointment — replacing Alfonso Desiata after only two years in the job — met with protest from the Bank of Italy but was pushed through by Mediobanca. Two years ago Mediobanca ousted then-chairman Antoine Bernheim after he had opposed the investment bank over a number of strategic investment decisions it took during 1998 and 1999. This time around Mr Bernheim sought re-election, but his claims were rejected by Mediobanca’s nominating committee, despite the backing of its chief executive Vincenzo Maranghi. Following the snub, Mr Maranghi’s position is itself now likely to come under pressure, with a number of Mediobanca’s key shareholders increasingly critical of his strategy and style since he took over from the bank’s founder and long-time leader Enrico Cuccia when he died last year.