In eToro, a financial services company which today has 34 million registered users worldwide, Massimo Citoni he arrived there at a very young age in 2015, just in time to put his qualities to good use in the nascent Fintech. Indeed, history has it that Citoni even anticipated the timing of his training as an account manager. “I started with low-profile clientele, then moved on to take care of customer relationships high net worth", explains.
In short, from the first moment, the objective of this finance manager was the efficiency of the service combined with a constant reference to financial education, a subject in which the world of Italian savings certainly does not shine, where incompetence has become often accompanied by laziness.
And this is where the features and services of eToro come into play, which have always been inspired by three essential concepts: simplicity, transparency and continuous innovation. A lesson that Citoni, who has been leading the Italian region of eToro since yesterday, intends to increasingly enhance on the basis of the experience gained in recent years starting from the copy trading revolution, a 2010 invention that had immediate success in Italy, the third place in Europe after the UK and Germany in terms of popularity.
Copy trading and Popular Investor: that's what they are
“Copy trading offers the possibility of following in the wake of other investors by observing and possibly copying in real time the portfolio choices of those who are called “Popular Investors” – Citoni continues. “Popular investors do not sell anything and put their money on the line, but for greater protection of those who copy them, they are in turn subjected to constant scrutiny on the choices made and on the degree of risk of their investments. It is a system that works very well in a country like Italy, where the investment culture is scarce. And for this reason I believe that the growth prospects of this formula in our country are very high".
The theme ofinnovation in Fintech is very relevant today. We are witnessing rapid and constant technological development and a radical change in habits. Banks are also changing their model from a digital perspective and experiences like that of eToro are certainly significant.
In addition to Popular Investors, eToro has in fact also invented intelligent portfolios, i.e. baskets of selected securities that allow users to invest in key sectors such as artificial intelligence, to follow the trends of great financiers such as Warren Buffet and even the Big American Tech. In this way, even the less literate are able to approach these sectors, understand investing and ride the most important trends in the markets and global economy. At the same time, these are tools that eToro manages to easily and promptly perfect and update in response to the most important economic trends.“ Italy is one of the most important European markets for us and even if eToro's offering predominates component of US stocks, theoffer of Italian securities it was recently doubled, reaching 80” adds Citoni. “I would like to say that eToro also offers the possibility of fractional purchases of securities, so that anyone can have access to the most capitalized companies."
eToro and the arrival of Citoni: participation in the area is growing
How will Citoni's arrival impact our local Fintech? “We firmly believe that eToro's growth also passes through greater presence and participation in the territory”, is the response of the regional manager. “For this reason we have already developed and will continue to develop partnerships with local credit institutions and joined associations such as the Fintech District of Milan and AssoFintech, where we will bring our experience and with whom we will collaborate for the progress of the fintech ecosystem in Italy and its regulation".
The weapons to use? “Simplicity, innovation, the value of community”. No proclamation, but rather a simple reminder of an attitude shared by its investors, aged between 35 and 45, who have already archived their first online experiences and have a clear idea of what they want to do. A good system to take root in the territory in a year that promises to be difficult. In which it will be important to withstand the difficulties that will not be lacking. A year as a Taurus, in short. However, he is ready to take action at the first opportunity.
