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Mediobanca

For decades, Milan-based Mediobanca wielded unrivaled control over Italian industry and finance through its vast shareholdings and ties to the power elite. But the investment bank's obsessively secretive character left investors cold. As recently as 2002, management declined to meet with investors, analysts, or the press, and the company's Web site was devoid of detailed financial information.

That's all changing, following an internal putsch in 2003 that ousted the old guard. Mediobanca's new chief executive, Alberto Nagel, opened the bank's operations to public view and set up a strategic plan that included expanding the bank's presence in Italy's rich consumer-finance and private-banking markets. The results are already visible: Last year, Mediobanca's revenues jumped 37%, net profit soared tenfold after a sharp decline in 2003, and the Milan bank's shares climbed 47%. One reason the share price took a jump is that the bank's penchant for secrecy had nothing to do with a bad balance sheet. Turns out Mediobanca is one of Europe's healthiest financial institutions, with nonperforming loans totaling 0.8% of assets, an industry low, and a 17% capital ratio. Nagel is proving that being more open isn't such a painful thing after all.