He began his professional career in 1980 at McKinsey, where he remained for five years, focusing on the reorganization and revitalization of banking, insurance, and service companies both in Italy and abroad.[7] Then he moved to CIR, the holding company of the De Benedetti Group, where he first served as the CEO's assistant and later as General Manager from 1988 to 1990. During those years, he worked on financial projects, including the creation of a new core shareholder group for Credito Romagnolo, where he served as Vice President from 1987 to 1995.[8]
Between 1991 and 1992 he first served as Chief Operating Officer of the Mondadori Group and then as Vice President and CEO of Editoriale L’Espresso-Repubblica, leading the company to be listed on the stock exchange.[9] Subsequently, he became Co-CEO of the Olivetti Group, which was facing a deep crisis at the time. There, he oversaw the company's entry into the telecommunications sector, leading to the creation of Omnitel (now Vodafone) and Infostrada.[10][11]
In 1996, he was appointed CEO and General Manager of Banco Ambroveneto where, the following year, he managed the banking consolidation operation with Cariplo, which led to the creation of Banca Intesa.[12] Two years later, the then Ministry of the Treasury appointed him CEO of Poste Italiane, with the task of restructuring the company, which was in serious crisis at the time.[13][14] Under his leadership, the company entered into the financial services sector through the creation of Bancoposta and Poste Vita. By 2002, the company had achieved economic recovery, posting its first profit.[8][10]
In the same year, Passera left Poste Italiane to return to the banking world as CEO of IntesaBCI.[15][16] In the summer of 2006, he managed the merger between the bank and Sanpaolo IMI, which led to the creation of Intesa Sanpaolo,[6] where he served as Director and CEO until 2011.[17][18] The following year, he promoted the establishment of Banca Prossima, a Third Sector bank dedicated to social enterprises.[19]
He founded Encyclomedia Publishers in 2010, a publishing project in collaboration with Umberto Eco, aimed at producing the first History of European Civilization designed for new digital media, with both educational and widespread cultural updating purposes.[20] The project was also presented at the UN in 2013 and was completed in terms of content in the winter of 2015.[21]
On 18 January 2018, Passera founded "Spaxs", a SPAC active in the financial sector.[13][22] Following the merger with Banca Interprovinciale in September of that year,[23][24] he created illimity, a banking group dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises with potential, listed on the STAR segment of Borsa Italiana since September 2020.[25][26]
On 23 February 2014, Corrado Passera founded the political movement Italia Unica[29][30] and in June of the following year, at the end of the national leadership meeting of Italia Unica in Milan, he announced his intention to run for Mayor of Milan in the upcoming local elections. However, a year later, he withdrew from the mayoral race, simultaneously announcing his support for the official center-right coalition candidate, Stefano Parisi.[31] On 30 September 2016, the National Assembly of Italia Unica decided to dissolve the party.[32]
