But perhaps not in this way or as quickly

Massimo Capuano was expected. "The noise ran for several weeks," it says in Milan. But perhaps not in this way, or as quickly. The person would have learned only last week that Xavier Rolet, his victorious rival for the succession of Clara Furse as head of London Stock Exchange Group (LSE), intended to happen more quickly of its services. Discrete intervention of Treasury, the regulator Consob and the Bank of Italy would however have to spare a semblance of a smooth transition.

Massimo Capuano, the author of the demutualization of the Milan Stock Exchange and, ten years after, in 2007, the merger with the London Stock Exchange, has resigned on 31 March, still keeping a seat as member of the Board of Directors of the LSE for four months. His work at the head of the Italian institution has hailed yesterday as it should in such circumstances. "I know Massimo Capuano long, first as an investor in listed Italian companies and then as colleague, said Xavier Rolet. "Investors and financial markets professionals have a debt of gratitude to him because he transformed Borsa Italiana of what it was in the early 1990's in an efficient and respected award on the international scene," he continued.

Massimo Capuano, who also occupied the place of issue two of the operator of the places of London and Milan, had received a clear signal that the time of his departure approached the appointment, made public on January 18, Kevin Milne as new head of the Group inbranch services. An operational function key previously occupied by the pattern of the Milan Stock Exchange. English replaced an Italian. The idea that the union of the two European scholarships had been made on an equal footing was a further blow.

The merger with the LSE was fiasco, in 2009, by the departure of four directors of Borsa Italiana alone: the head of the finance, Legal Affairs, of the sale of data and communication. It is not excluded that term Angelo Tantazzi, the Deputy Chairman of LSE Group, whose mandate runs out in April 2011, may leave the firm, said a bank source. After the consolidation, downsizing of the Milanese place melted about 100 units, or nearly one-fifth of the employees.

"The man of the situation."

"The departure of Massimo Capuano is the transformation of Borsa Italiana", says a player of the Milan market. "The LSE has more need of a character of this stature because Borsa Italiana no longer has the same representativeness requirements it had before the reunification," he said. His replacement, Raffaele Jerusalmi, was the first of high-level hired by starting in 1998. From the ranks of Credit Switzerland First Boston, he was in turn the head shares, derivatives and rates of Borsa Italiana to 2007. He was recently admitted to the Committee Executive of the Group and appointed Director of the capital of the new set markets. "He knows perfectly the House." It is a high flight technician. "But, with this type of profile, the figure of Borsa Italiana pattern decays much," has a record close. "It is the man for the job, says another source because traditional stock exchanges are increasingly simple platforms Exchange and less of genuine financial institutions of national interest."

A debate that is not ready to dry up. As Massimo Capuano, several players of first-order of the Italian financial market the be well take the reins of the Consob, the Organization of supervision of the transalpine market. The Chair of President of this institution becomes available in June.