Mediobanca's impending appointment of Cesare Geronzi as the first chairman of its new supervisory board could have holed the bank's dynamic leadership beneath the waterline.

Alberto Nagel and Renato Pagliaro, the co-general managers, have set about overhauling Mediobanca's image as a "salotto buono," loosely translating as an old boys' club. The cornerstone of this was a three-year modernising drive launched in 2005.