Intesa Sanpaolo has announced two senior leadership appointments within its International Banks Division, naming Luigi Fuzio as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Board of CIB Bank in Hungary, and Mojca Kovač as Chief Executive Officer of Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Slovenia. Both appointments are subject to the requisite regulatory approvals in their respective jurisdictions, the Italian banking group confirmed on 25 March 2026. The changes are being led by Paola Papanicolaou, who heads Intesa Sanpaolo's International Banks Division and oversees the group's network of subsidiary banking operations across Central and Eastern Europe and other international markets.
The International Banks Division is responsible for a number of locally licensed banks that operate under the Intesa Sanpaolo umbrella whilst serving the specific retail, commercial, and corporate banking needs of their domestic markets. The division plays an important role in the group's geographic diversification strategy, contributing revenue streams and customer relationships that are anchored in markets outside the Italian home market and the group's other core Western European territories.
KOVAČ BECOMES FIRST WOMAN TO LEAD AN INTERNATIONAL DIVISION BANK
Mojca Kovač's appointment as chief executive of Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Slovenia carries particular significance as she becomes the first woman to hold a chief executive position within any bank in the International Banks Division. The milestone reflects a broader push within large European banking groups to advance gender diversity at the most senior executive levels, a goal that banking regulators across the European Union and institutional shareholders have increasingly formalised through both supervisory guidance and explicit diversity expectations applied to board composition and executive pipeline planning.
Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Slovenia operates in a small but stable eurozone economy where the banking sector has seen increasing competitive pressure from both domestic and foreign-owned institutions. As chief executive, Kovač will be responsible for guiding the bank's commercial strategy, managing its relationship with the local regulator, delivering on the financial and operational targets established by the International Banks Division, and overseeing the day-to-day management of a business that serves both retail and corporate clients in the Slovenian market.
FUZIO TO LEAD CIB BANK IN HUNGARY
Luigi Fuzio's appointment as CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of CIB Bank Hungary places him at the helm of one of Hungary's established mid-sized commercial banks, operating in a market that is characterised by significant government involvement in the banking sector and an evolving regulatory and political environment. CIB Bank has operated in Hungary for several decades as a subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo, providing retail banking, corporate lending, and financial services products to a broad customer base across the country.
Both appointments will take effect following the granting of regulatory approval by the supervisory authorities in Hungary and Slovenia respectively, and Intesa Sanpaolo has indicated that both processes are well advanced. The appointments signal the group's intention to maintain active, hands-on management of its international subsidiary network, with leadership changes designed to introduce renewed strategic direction into two Central European markets that together form a meaningful and growing part of the group's geographic diversification across the European continent and its broader and increasingly diversified international banking portfolio.