Bernheim passes on, Italian finance stays the same | Business blog

Les Echos, the French financial journal, begins its tribute to Antoine Bernheim, who died this week aged 87, by describing him as a ?v?ritable Talleyrand? of business. So it?s worth asking, as Metternich reputedly did when news of the wily French diplomat?s death reached him: ?What do you think he meant by that??

Bernheim had been entrenched at the centre of a network of French and Italian finance for so long and with such influence that it is tempting to assume that his passing means the whole edifice is in jeopardy. Tempting, but, alas, wrong.

I never met him, but, as the FT?s Milan correspondent, I wrote about his accession to the chairmanship of Generali, the Italian insurer, in 1995 ? at which point he had already been a director for two decades. That piece was headlined ?Reshuffle not revolution? and I wrote (no link available) that if Bernheim took over ?the basis for Generali?s short-term development is still likely to be its cosy relationship with Mediobanca and Lazard Freres?.

Things got distinctly less cosy for Bernheim in latter years at Generali. He bitterly resented the coup that removed him from his second stint as chairman in 2010. He knew retirement wouldn?t suit him and told the local press (according to Agence France Presse?s obituary):

In life, I?ve always been motivated by challenges, but what?s the challenge of retirement? Death, perhaps? I?ll talk about it with my bishop and cardinal friends.

But while Bernheim was on the way out, the old system was not. His death comes the week after the latest ructions at the top of the Italian insurer, with the ejection of 32-year Generali veteran Giovanni Perissinotto as chief executive, orchestrated by Mediobanca and other large shareholders. As the FT?s Eric Sylvers wrote of Mr Perissinotto?s undignified exit, ?whether justified or not [his removal] is likely to hurt Italy?s image abroad?:

The process was reminiscent of a bygone era for corporate Italy, when important decisions at listed companies were taken behind closed doors and minority shareholders discovered the fate of their investment upon opening the morning newspaper.

That analysis would have earned a knowing nod from Antoine Bernheim, who played the old system so well, for so long.

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