"A small group of `usual suspects', whose aims are well-known because they've been pursuing them for 20 years, wants to kick out board members who are concerned only with the interests of the bank..." BCI board member Diego Della Valle said.

"They are conducting a virtual takeover bid, which costs nothing," he told a business conference in the northern coastal town of Santa Margherita Ligure. A group of key shareholders holding around 20 percent of BCI's shares, led by Milanese merchant bank Mediobanca last month formed a pact to oust the current board. Creation of the pact, of which Della Valle is not part, was part of a broader struggle over BCI's merger strategy. The pact groups most of BCI's core shareholders including Italian insurer Generali and Germany's Commerzbank. Key shareholders like Deutsche Bank, Pirelli and Paribasdid not join.

The pact members were dead set against BCI accepting a takeover offer from UniCredito Italiano and scored a victory when BCI's board rejected the bid at a May 14 meeting. Board members and shareholders with ties to Mediobanca were seen as opposed to the UniCredito offer because the merged bank would have become Mediobanca's single biggest shareholder. Della Valle urged Italian authorities such as the central bank or government itself to intervene to obstruct the shareholders in the BCI pact.y