Overview
- After three days of meetings, the board revoked Luigi Lovaglio’s CEO powers, suspended him as general manager, and handed day-to-day operations to deputy director Maurizio Bai until the April 15 shareholder meeting.
- The outgoing board named Fabrizio Palermo as its sole CEO candidate, saying a structured search with outside advisors and regulatory checks found him best suited to steer MPS through its industrial transformation.
- The board is challenging the rival slate from small investor PLT that re-nominates Lovaglio and, according to multiple reports, has filed a complaint with the ECB, Bank of Italy, and Consob over how and when that list was presented.
- MPS’s financial report discloses a Milan prosecutor’s probe that provisionally alleges market manipulation and obstruction of supervision involving Lovaglio, a factor supervisors could weigh in the ECB’s “fit and proper” vetting of any CEO.
- Proxy advisors and major funds are now courting votes ahead of April 15, with Corriere focusing on investor outreach, Il Giornale highlighting the market’s positive reaction to Palermo’s naming, and Il Fatto Quotidiano framing the dispute as a legal fight that could slow key deals.