Over 36 billion in managed assets, bankers that have risen to 300 (also thanks to the integration with the good banks), 20 relationships (43 customers). UBI Banca Top Private, the UBI Banca division dedicated to Private Banking, celebrates its first year of activity (following the Single Bank operation) with numbers that place it among the top 5 operators in the sector in Italy. “Our customers – he explains to FIRSTonline Riccardo Barbarians, Head of UBI Top Private – is High Net Worth Individual or Ultra High Net Worth Individual: we manage assets of no less than one million euros and in some cases more than 10 million”.
The watchwords of the activity are two: consultancy and maximum attention to risk through diversification. ”The advanced advisory service – says Barbarini – was launched by our Bank in 2005, before the crisis, and only a few asked us for it. With the crisis, the approach has changed and today providing 360-degree advice, both to families and businesses, has become fundamental. The crisis has also shifted the focus on risk rather than on the benchmark: in this perspective, professional management and diversification are always advisable”.
Speaking of crisis: in the last few days the Italian financial market has been in turmoil and Piazza Affari (but then partially recover) has canceled the gains of 2018. What were the consequences on your portfolios?
“Minimal and it is the demonstration that, when addressing professionals, risk diversification protects assets from volatility. Of the 36 billion in assets we manage, 14,2 billion are under management and 5,7 billion in insurance: out of these 20 billion, the loss linked to the turbulence of the last period was practically nil. This is because a diversified portfolio contains only a small part of Italian stocks/bonds, i.e. it only proportionally reproduces the weight of the Italian market in the world. Most of the investments are in fact diversified on the international market. These days the Italian market is mainly in difficulty, while the dollar has revalued, the Bund has recovered and bonds have risen: a good portfolio is therefore able to limit the damage or even not produce it".
So the advice, especially these days, is to diversify?
“Yes, to reduce the risk. However, we also offer a service for clients who, looking for higher returns, are willing to risk more. A potential higher return is in fact always linked to a higher risk. We are able to support and suggest to clients those situations which, in our opinion, offer a more favorable risk/reward ratio”.
What is the balance sheet of your first year of activity as private banking of the sole bank?
“Thanks also to the incorporation of the good banks (Banca Adriatica, Banca Tirrenica and Banca Teatina) we went from 32 billion in assets at the end of 2016 to over 36 billion in assets in 2018. The increase of over 4 billion is due to 50 approximately % to the good banks operation, while another half is linked to the growth of our business. We have 20 relationships (43 customers). During the year, our private relationship managers increased by 60 units, going from 240 in May 2017 to around 300 today: here too both as a result of the integration and also due to a policy of hiring external professionals and young people who we are hiring among the best talented graduates in our country and who we intend to continue”.
What are the main services you offer?
“The family business and advanced consultancy. The family business is dedicated to families and family businesses and is growing a lot, because today more than in the past, we are realizing that, in the case of a company, managing generational transitions well is an added value. We offer a series of advisory services that take care of all aspects, financial, legal and tax. As mentioned, we launched advanced consultancy in 2005, before the crisis when it was not yet perceived as a need. Today, however, investors, especially those with very significant assets, demand maximum attention to risk management, with an ad hoc service. With this service alone, today we manage almost 6 billion, with an increase of 900 million in the last year”.
Do you, like other operators, plan to support consultancy more and more with technology?
“Absolutely yes and it is one of our big goals for 2018. We want to simplify all operations through digitization. It is a question, we would like to underline, not of replacing work with machines, but of simplifying access to all services for our customers, which will still be dealt with by our bankers. Digitization is never enough, it is a process that needs to be improved continuously”.
