Matteo Arpe, the chief executive of Capitalia, has successfully fought off an attempt to oust him following a series of clashes with the chairman of the Italian financial group, which today posted record profits of €1.2bn ($1.6bn).

Arpe said at the results presentation today: "These last five days have no doubt been confusing for you all. I'm sure you would all like to know what this was all about, I understand that. We still do not know ourselves, but perhaps it's not so important in the final analysis."