About

Riccardo Quagliana serves as the group general counsel at the Monte dei Paschi di Siena, one of the oldest banks in the world, founded in 1472, and today is the leader of one of the top five banking groups in Italy with significant market shares in all sectors in which it operates. Quagliana took on this position in January 2013, in the middle of the financial crisis of the Italian banking sector and although it was a particularly testing period, he has been able to navigate it with a high level of efficiency, overseeing the restructuring and turnaround of the Bank. Due to the ongoing turnaround process, he has been involved in a large number of extraordinary transactions, amongst which he completed two rights issues in 2014-2015, the biggest securitisation transaction made in Europe worth €24.2bn and first precautionary recapitalisation process in Europe. His last six years at the bank have made Quagliana central to implementing a new structure of internal controls, a specific department aimed to have a daily relationship with the European Central Bank. ‘For a conservative Italian retail bank this event has to be construed as a sort of revolution, from a cultural perspective’, he says. As the third largest retail bank in Italy, the restructuring has been complex, however he worked closely with the two CEO’s and four chairman to find a new business model for the Bank. Despite the tumultuous times the Bank has faced, Quagliana is confident in the capability of the department to deal with matters at hand and stay abreast of financial obstacles: ‘My team and I have been working for years without vacations, weekends and incentives, I have never thought to see a work experience like this. Seeing that the Bank is still strong, despite all the troubles, is the most important reward’ says Quagliana. Prior to this role he served as head of corporate legal affairs for Fondiaria-Sai, an insurance company of the Unipol Group, as well as a director for Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Rome.