Italian Banking Is Hard Work for a Frenchman
Jean Pierre Mustier has done a decent job at UniCredit, but Rome is becoming increasingly interventionist on business.
Left to his own devices, he probably wouldn’t.
Photo: Bloomberg
In Europe’s embattled banking industry, few chief executive officers can claim to have made as meaningful a mark on their business as Jean Pierre Mustier at UniCredit SpA. Unfortunately for him, running a national banking champion — especially during a pandemic, and especially in Italy — also requires a high degree of political savvy.
That Mustier’s future at UniCredit is coming to an abrupt end doesn’t say much about his plans for the lender, nor his abilities; it is more about the role an increasingly interventionist Italy would like its banks to play.