Top Banker Quits Italy State Bank as Mario Draghi Revamps Leadership

Sonia Sirletti and Chiara Albanese, Bloomberg News

The Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA headquarters in Rome, Italy, on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. Italy’s interventionist economic policy is adding to the strains within the governing coalition and could even put Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s administration at risk, a senior government official said. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. is hiring top investment banker Vito Lo Piccolo, who’ll leave Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA just as the state-backed lender revamps its strategy under new leadership chosen by Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Lo Piccolo, 46, will join BofA to strengthen its investment banking division, people with knowledge of the matter said. He will be named senior managing director with responsibility for Italian capital markets, the people said, asking to not be named because the process is private. The decision to leave the Italian lender was taken in April, according to some of the people.

The banker will be based in Milan and report to country head Antonino Mattarella. Representatives for BofA and Cassa Depositi declined to comment.

Over the last two years, Cassa Depositi has increased its influence over strategic sectors including telecommunications, transportation and exchange management. It expanded its stake in Telecom Italia SpA, engineered the sale of stock-exchange manager Borsa Italiana, and became the largest shareholder in digital payments giant Nexi SpA.

These assets are managed by CDP Equity, Cassa Depositi’s investment arm led by Pierpaolo Di Stefano. Lo Piccolo was deputy general manager of the unit, in charge of fund raising, fund investment and management.

Significant Stakes

With 512 billion euros ($623 billion) in assets, Rome-based Cassa Depositi is bigger than most of Italy’s banks and has significant stakes in many of the country’s largest companies. Last month Draghi named Dario Scannapieco to run the state-backed lender, putting a long-time ally into one of Italy’s highest-profile corporate posts and paving the way for a significant policy shift at the firm.

Lo Piccolo started his career at Merrill Lynch in 1998 in London, where he worked with UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel. He joined Cassa Depositi in 2019, having previously worked at Deutsche Bank AG and Citigroup Inc. The banker graduated from Bocconi University with a degree in Economics and Business Legislation.

He’ll replace Gianluca Iuliano, who left Bank of America in August to join Fininvest SpA, the family investment company of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

(Updates with decision of timing in second paragraph.)