ADVISOR | September 2025
The confrontation between Mediobanca and Monte dei Paschi is a clash of two cultures, two histories, and two very different ways of working and banking, whose trajectories have inevitably intertwined over the years.
On the one hand, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a bank founded in 1472, has risen in recent years from the ashes to which questionable management, tangled with politics, had reduced it. A sort of phoenix ready to take flight, it is today well represented in the communications promoting the takeover bid for Mediobanca by a butterfly emerging from its shell.
The butterfly represents transformation, freedom, lightness, and rebirth, often associated with concepts of positive change and personal growth. It is certainly the most beautiful of insects, but also the most fragile, its lifespan being only a few weeks.
On the other hand, Mediobanca is a financial credit bank founded in 1946 by Raffaele Mattioli and Enrico Cuccia to promote the reconstruction, development, and internationalization of Italian industries at the end of the Second World War.
Mediobanca responded to the takeover bid with a very austere, defensive communication, based on three denials of the operation launched by Piazza Salimbeni: “no value, no rationale, do not participate.”
All this with the stamp of the Mediobanca brand, which to its most critical critics might seem a bit too self-referential, à la Marchese del Grillo when he says “I am me and you are not a…”.
Upon closer inspection, even one of the reasons behind the takeover bid—the acquisition of Generali, which prompted the late Leonardo Del Vecchio and Caltagirone to oppose Mediobanca’s top management—stems from a cultural difference.
The “self-made man” and the “Roman property developer” contrast with the somewhat snobbish “Milan financial bourgeoisie” who regard them with detachment, underestimating the influence of those with large sums of money and political support.
There is no doubt that Piazzetta Cuccia is changing, as evidenced by the doubling of its stock price in the last two years: the “One culture, one brand” plan is the true masterpiece of Nagel and his first line of managers.
A masterpiece perhaps a little late. If it had valorized an iconic brand like Mediobanca earlier, bringing it to the general public rather than a select elite, and if it had acquired Banca Generali a few years ago (divesting itself of the Lion’s stake and income), the Bank probably wouldn’t be prey today.
But as we know, history isn’t made with ifs and buts, and today we are witnessing a no-holds-barred battle, where, in addition to the judiciary, fortunately, people will also play a decisive role.
In addition to the company heads—Luigi Lovaglio and Alberto Nagel—who were certainly instrumental in the outcome of the takeover bid with their communication, the women and men of the local networks (financial advisors, private bankers, and bank managers) who are in contact with a bank’s true assets: families, businesses, and communities are especially crucial.
The value of Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s network is an unshakable asset: people bordering on heroism, who passed through the flames without being burned, attached to the Bank like Marines to the Stars and Stripes.
On the other hand, Mediobanca’s people are also a formidable asset, among the best professionals in investment banking, private banking, and financial advisory.
We hope that whoever wins will respect the history, the value of the brand, and the people of two of Italy’s finest.
Nicola Ronchetti