Andrea Orcel, Xi Jinping

For external observers it might be a surprise that italian banker Andrea Orcel will be introduced as the new CEO of the italian bank Unicredit. For insiders in the banking business it is not. The italian state wants Unicredit to take over its stake of more than 70 % in the oldest italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena which was one of the reasons why the former CEO Jean Pierre Mustier left. Andrea Orcel was once an advisor for Monte dei Paschi and he surely knows what he can expect. While Andrea Orcel continues his career in Italy at the top of a bank of international renown and the task to solve old problems owed to the financial crisis, China's president Xi Jinping was talking at the virtual WEF in Davos in the role as head of an economically powerful nation. He is never putting the financial crisis at the top of his statements in western countries while warning his concurrents with warm words and the tolerant retoric used by western superpowers that China will continue to be a global player. No one should be afraid, is the message of the leader of the confucian country -  but reading in newspapers about the new concurrents from Asia shows a situation that they are not always welcome because they are so good. And some might prefer to dig into Monte dei Paschi rather than just welcoming perfect technologies and behaviours of a world you can not be against.

foto update: 2021/1/28

Andrea Orcel (l.), new CEO of Unicredit, and Xi Jinping, President of China, during his speech in Davos (source: ft.com/ dw.com (Li Xueren/Xinhua/picture alliance)