By Arno Schuetze and Gianluca Semeraro
FRANKFURT/MILAN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - UniCredit executives on Wednesday shrugged off the issue of a possible resignation of Chairman Dieter Rampl after a key meeting to discuss future strategy of Italy's top bank.
UniCredit is undergoing a management shake-up after ousting former CEO Alessandro Profumo in September.
Sergio Ermotti, UniCredit's investment banking chief, also handed in his notice last week, raising the prospect that Rampl, a supporter of Ermotti and of UniCredit's playing a big role in investment banking, would also leave soon.
'The problem of Rampl's resignation has never existed and will not exist,' Luigi Castelletti, one of UniCredit's four vice chairmen, said on Wednesday as he left the bank's headquarters.
While leaving the bank, two other Italian top executives also dismissed the idea Rampl could resign, echoing comments made by new CEO Federico Ghizzoni in an interview on Wednesday with German daily Handelsblatt.
Earlier on Wednesday, however, two sources close to UniCredit said Rampl was determined to leave.
'Rampl will step down. Not today and maybe not this week. But probably at the next supervisory board meeting or the one after that,' said one of the sources.
One Italian source said a decision about Rampl's future may be held ahead of the next shareholder meeting in the spring.
NEW STRATEGY
Ghizzoni has vowed to strengthen UniCredit's retail system and focus on emerging Europe in countries where the bank is a market leader, but in the interview with Handelsblatt, he denied this will be done at the expenses of investment banking.
'Both businesses are equally important,' he told the paper.
Scaling back the investment bank, which revolves around Germany's HVB, would hit the German operations of UniCredit.
Italian shareholders of UniCredit, mostly nonprofit foundations with strong ties to local business, are on the other hand keen the bank focuses on lending to small and mid-sized Italian companies.
Three large Italian foundations own almost 11 percent of UniCredit, while Italian bank Mediobanca has about 5 percent with no voting rights.
Key foreign investors -- a diverse group that includes the central bank of Lybia, investment fund BlackRock and German insurer Allianz -- own more than 18 percent in total.
(Writing by Lisa Jucca, Arno Schuetze and Danilo Masoni, additional reporting by Andrea Mandala, Kristia Kraemer and Stefano Bernabei; Editing by Michael Shields, Gary Hill) Keywords: UNICREDIT/ (Arno.Schuetze@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1197; Reuters Messaging: Arno.Schuetze.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
FRANKFURT/MILAN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - UniCredit executives on Wednesday shrugged off the issue of a possible resignation of Chairman Dieter Rampl after a key meeting to discuss future strategy of Italy's top bank.
UniCredit is undergoing a management shake-up after ousting former CEO Alessandro Profumo in September.
Sergio Ermotti, UniCredit's investment banking chief, also handed in his notice last week, raising the prospect that Rampl, a supporter of Ermotti and of UniCredit's playing a big role in investment banking, would also leave soon.
'The problem of Rampl's resignation has never existed and will not exist,' Luigi Castelletti, one of UniCredit's four vice chairmen, said on Wednesday as he left the bank's headquarters.
While leaving the bank, two other Italian top executives also dismissed the idea Rampl could resign, echoing comments made by new CEO Federico Ghizzoni in an interview on Wednesday with German daily Handelsblatt.
Earlier on Wednesday, however, two sources close to UniCredit said Rampl was determined to leave.
'Rampl will step down. Not today and maybe not this week. But probably at the next supervisory board meeting or the one after that,' said one of the sources.
One Italian source said a decision about Rampl's future may be held ahead of the next shareholder meeting in the spring.
NEW STRATEGY
Ghizzoni has vowed to strengthen UniCredit's retail system and focus on emerging Europe in countries where the bank is a market leader, but in the interview with Handelsblatt, he denied this will be done at the expenses of investment banking.
'Both businesses are equally important,' he told the paper.
Scaling back the investment bank, which revolves around Germany's HVB, would hit the German operations of UniCredit.
Italian shareholders of UniCredit, mostly nonprofit foundations with strong ties to local business, are on the other hand keen the bank focuses on lending to small and mid-sized Italian companies.
Three large Italian foundations own almost 11 percent of UniCredit, while Italian bank Mediobanca has about 5 percent with no voting rights.
Key foreign investors -- a diverse group that includes the central bank of Lybia, investment fund BlackRock and German insurer Allianz -- own more than 18 percent in total.
(Writing by Lisa Jucca, Arno Schuetze and Danilo Masoni, additional reporting by Andrea Mandala, Kristia Kraemer and Stefano Bernabei; Editing by Michael Shields, Gary Hill) Keywords: UNICREDIT/ (Arno.Schuetze@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1197; Reuters Messaging: Arno.Schuetze.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.