The number one CRT, Fabrizio Palenzona, formally excludes his candidacy for the top of Acri, the club of banking foundations, paving the way for the appointment of Giovanni Azzone, president of the Cariplo Foundation. This report was leaked from a meeting of the North-West Acri consultancy and refuted the hypothesis of a head-to-head battle between the two presidents of Crt and Cariplo. Both are accredited by many sources as possible successors to Francesco Profumo. The underground hunt for votes that started recently is stopped. The pretext Palenzona used to announce his desire not to run was a document on the future of Acri proposed and approved at the last meeting of the Northwest Council. “Let me be clear – said Palenzona – I am not a candidate and this document does not contradict anyone and does not represent the document on which my candidacy is based.” And then he added, again yesterday afternoon at the Consulta board meeting: “I’m fine where I am, I’ve got so much to do.” And after two hours of discussions and refinements, mainly thanks to Profum, the document was approved.
Palenzona thus freed himself from the problem of a candidacy that did not take off. Profumo, president of the foundation, which is the largest shareholder of Intesa Sanpaolo, will leave his post by the end of March and lose his position as president of Acri. The seat sought by the number one Crt Foundation, which in April managed to capture the leadership of the foundation, which is a shareholder of Unicredit, by cornering former president Giovanni Quaglia. The transition will then cover other important roles, including that of Acri’s National President.
Palenzona’s candidacy never won the favor of the important foundations that decide on the association’s national president. So much so that the document adopted by the consultation, in addition to the information on what should be the rules for defining relationships with national funds, how taxation should be changed, what should be the rules for limiting mandates and age limits for those holding positions in foundations also reports veiled criticism of the candidacy and selection mechanisms of Acri’s top management. They should not be the prerogative of larger foundations such as Compagnia and Cariplo, now headed by Azzone, Profumo’s representative in Acre.
Palenzona’s choice to withdraw from the game arose from the decision of the Compagnia di San Paolo, communicated to Palenzona, not to support him and to support Azzone. An identical message came from the Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo foundation, headed by Ezio Raviola.
Once the Palenzona matter is archived, the question remains what the President of the Society, Profumo, will do. Will he return to the game by occupying the office of president of Intesa Sanpaolo, now occupied by Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, at the Turin headquarters? A prospect that many are ready to bet on, so much so that if Profumo wants to keep the doors of the Turin skyscraper open, he must be able to leave the management of the Society by April to have a year in the freezer. . The minimum break required to join the bank after a position in the foundation, the main shareholder of Intesa. The process of restoring the foundation’s top management has already begun. And the deadline for the nomination letters of the members of the General Council of the Company to arrive is March 4. The burden of naming the future president is actually on him the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, who would have in mind one of the former rectors of the Polytechnic of Turin, Marco Gilli, engaged for six years at the Italian Embassy in Washington as a scientific attaché. A name that won’t convince other big voters, including the county and the Chamber of Commerce system, who would like him to lead the company. outgoing rector of Poli Guido Saracco. It is likely that other names will emerge eventually: characters, at least one or two, that the mayor of Turin, Lo Russo, covers well.