More consultancy but more diversified and more personalized. This second Sbreakdown PerissinottoDirector Ggeneral of Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, the recipe for giving Private Banking even more sprint, i.e. all those investment assets linked to affluent customers who invest significant assets and who, in times of still very low or even negative rates, are looking for appreciable returns. In the case of Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, this is Approximately 35.000 family groups and with an average managed assets of almost 3 million each, which make of Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking the industry leader.
“Despite the low interest rates, Private Banking continues to grow, benefiting from a constructive trend in the stock market, starting with the Italian one”. A growth that led the company to record an exceptional 2017: "It was a record year for us - says Saverio Perissinotto in the interview given to FIRSTonline -: total assets under management exceeded the 100 billion mark for the first time euros, and the consolidated net profit was the best ever, exceeding expectations and improving by 10% on 2016, while revenues rose by 10%”.
To what do you owe this success?
“First of all, we must thank the fact that we belong to a leading group like Intesa Sanpaolo. Furthermore, the financial markets experienced a good phase in 2017 and this predisposed our customers to invest. Added to these factors is our commercial strategy, careful in proposing products with high added value at controlled costs, and the expansion of our network of consultants through the recruititing. I am convinced that at the heart of every successful action there are always people: today we have almost 900 Private Bankers, professionals prepared to offer increasingly specialized consultancy".
What do you mean by advice specialized?
“Increasingly personalized and tailor-made for the customer. Private is a very high customer segment, but within it there are different types of customers: by characteristics, by risk propensity, by strategies and needs. We have also identified a group of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI), customers who numerically account for 10-15% of the total, but who account for a third of the managed assets, for an average of at least 10 million euro each. We are paying particular attention to this clientele: in 2017 we made seven HNWI branches fully operational in the main Italian cities, where we offer customers with more sophisticated needs an even more articulated range of products and services than traditional private ones. In short, the first lever for the future is that of consultancy, of offering ever more specialized, diversified and high value-added solutions”.
This is also to make up for the still very low interest rates.
"Exactly. Advice and diversification also serve to support customers in the face of volatile markets and to protect them from interest rate trends which, by making standard investments, would risk leading to potential capital losses. We need to be more diversified, creative, and also have tactical products: in this the role of the bank is decisive for creating a portfolio that, perhaps, seems more risky in the short term, but can lead to good results in the medium term".
2017 rewarded you; how did 2018 start instead? What are the objectives of the group's new Private Banking business plan and what are the levers to achieve them?
“2018 started well. The objectives indicated by business plan to 2021 are particularly ambitious: an 8,3% CAGR increase in revenues and a 6,3% CAGR in assets under management. We hope to reach these estimates by following a clear path: savers have a great need for advice and we must offer an increasingly broader portfolio. We also focus on recruithings, that is, on expanding our team of consultants and private bankers: we organize increasingly specific training courses for them, also to develop a sense of belonging to the Intesa Sanpaolo Group. Our craft is three-quarters science and one-quarter art, that is, the human aspect. Technological innovation has become and will become increasingly crucial in our development plan. Remote offer and new mobile interface support the simplification of processes and we want them to make dialogue with our customers more immediate. I like to think of digital innovation as an enabling factor, which will facilitate the relationship with the customer”.
2018 is also the year of major regulatory changes, with the entry into force of MIFID II.
“Our type of clientele already demanded maximum transparency and we are organized to respond to this need. We have always been at the forefront of transparency: the private sector, even before MIFID II, had a special eye on this aspect”.
Another big news of the last period, for about a year now, is the irruption of Most (Individual savings plans) in the world of savings. A tremendous success overall, but cWhat impact have they had on your business?
“For us in private banking, the impact was certainly more limited than for commercial banking. We are involved but it is not ours core business, for obvious reasons: the limit on the amount to invest (maximum 30 euros per year for each natural person for a total maximum of 150 euros) makes the ceilings unattractive for our type of clientele. In any case, the PIRs remain a very important and very positive novelty for the country's economic system, to which we want to continue to contribute as Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking".
Earlier he mentioned art as a creative component of banker. But art is increasingly in your business, through various initiatives, from collections of great works to participation in the MiArt. Are you thinking of increasing consultancy for art heritage?
"In recent years we have developed skills and professionalism to assist our customers also in the management and evaluation of the artistic heritage, thanks to collaborations with independent professionals, able to support our customers in the selection, evaluation and purchase of works of art art. In the latest edition of MiArt, we also organized meetings with experts, collectors and scholars to make the prospects for investing in contemporary art available to customers who are more attentive to this sector and we noted that appreciation for this market is growing" .
