Nagel, at the helm of Mediobanca since 2008, came under pressure after eyewear magnate Leonardo Del Vecchio emerged as the top investor in the bank and another Italian tycoon, Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, bought a 5.5% stake.

Del Vecchio and Caltagirone battled against Mediobanca over the reappointment of Philippe Donnet as CEO of Generali, in which the Italian financial services group is the top investor, in a war that last month saw them defeated in a shareholder vote.

(Reporting by Maria Pia Quaglia, writing by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Giulia Segreti)