Advisor | January 2025
The future of banks and networks seems to increasingly depend on the people who lead them, on their ability to possess empathetic leadership, a clear vision and to be quick and efficient in their actions, possibly anticipating changes.
If we look at the past year and imagine what 2025 will be like, endogenous factors certainly have and will have a decisive role, from geopolitical tensions, to interest rate trends, to a Europe called for a cohesion of the financial and banking sector that is complex to achieve, but it is precisely when the sea is stormy that the leader makes the difference.
It has always been like this in the world of networks, because these are young, lean companies typically born around a charismatic figure who was able to build a close-knit team around him which in turn, in a virtuous circle, created a network of professionals.
In banks the importance of leadership has only become more evident in recent times, not that bankers of the caliber of Raffaele Mattioli and Enrico Cuccia lacked charisma and vision, but there was great discretion and the information and news concerning them and their choices traveled in slow motion compared to today.
The speed and rapidity with which information circulates, its dissemination through a multimedia system where social networks have become increasingly protagonists, have imposed on those who lead banks a media exposure capable of putting even the most fearless leaders to the test.
The look, the words, the tone of voice and the image of those who lead a bank have become increasingly relevant and sometimes count as much, if not more, than the balance sheets and profits of the organizations themselves.
Behind every major banking acquisition and merger operation, whether hostile or not, there are people who share a passion and motivation that is primarily individual.
This is why it is so important for those who analyze the market to study the history of the leaders, discovering for example that Andrea Orcel at the helm of UniCredit graduated with honors in economics and commerce with a thesis on hostile takeovers.
Or discover that Giuseppe Castagna at the helm of Gruppo Banco BPM was Italian swimming champion, dolphin specialty and participated in the 1976 Olympics.
Sergio Ermotti, at the helm of UBS and director of the integration with Credit Suisse, also has a curious story: at fifteen he left school because he wanted to be a footballer, then as a prisoner he served an apprenticeship at a bank.
Carlo Messina at the helm of Intesa Sanpaolo organized the largest banking takeover bid on UBI with the discretion and style that characterize his Bank and with the support of Francesco Canzonieri – defined at the time as the “Gattuso” of Mediobanca – a professional with whom he established a strong harmony.
The human factor plays a decisive role and continues to be decisive in the world of banking, with all due respect to those who repudiate relational capitalism.
On the other hand, in the banking sector, more than in others, it is natural that people are at the center and make the difference in the creation of strategies where – also due to the development of technology – the execution phase tends to become standardized while the added value almost always originates from the relationship of trust between individuals.
In this sense, perhaps, it could be enough to look into the eyes of the protagonists of banking risk to discover who has the tiger’s gaze and who does not.
Nicola Ronchetti