There are those, you see Alberto Alesina, has proposed the establishment of a license for savings to remove or at least reduce the knowledge gap of Italians in the field of financial education. Before accessing an investment, instead of signing the documents required by Mifid (diligently filled in by the subscribers of Banca Etruria's subordinated bonds), the unfortunate saver should at least solve the tests developed by Annamaria Lusardi, the economist company that for years has been monitoring the public's knowledge of investment diversification, simple and compound interest rate calculations, the relationship between return and risk. Proposal as meritorious as it is paradoxical, like imposing a test in solfeggio or Gregorian chant on anyone who ventures into a concert hall.
There are who, how Luigi Zingales, proposes to take the American route: after the great crisis, among the reforms approved as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, an important place was reserved for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency in charge of protecting savers, called to supervise the relations between the public and banks, financial companies and anyone operating in the insurance market or financial products linked to real estate. An ad hoc authority that should absorb the powers currently distributed between the Bank of Italy, Consob and the Antitrust authorities. However, the American experience, for now, has not been a happy one. It took four years, starting in 2010, for the necessary funding to be greenlit by Congress. Meanwhile, the Republicans have had the House of Representatives vote on a bill to resize the institution to a simple agency, a proposal never examined by the Senate with a Democratic majority. Even in the USA the reform, promoted with great ambitions, has so far produced more skirmishes between politics and bureaucracy than actual benefits. It is probable that, in our parts, the Savings Authority would produce yet another multiplication of officials and new confusion of competences.
Perhaps it deserves more attention the English road that focuses on… robots. In view of the approval of the annual budget, a commission of experts arriving from the savings industry, the banking world and the Treasury has developed the Financial Advice Market Review”. Other objectives also include the "assessment of the potential advantages of new technologies to reduce costs and provide more appropriate services" to customers. All within the framework of a project that includes:
1) address the skills gap of workers who intend to "do the right things and guarantee themselves a serene future despite not having significant wealth";
2) regulate the consultancy activity by removing inappropriate barriers;
3) guarantee operators a clear and transparent framework, eliminating unnecessary costs and formalities and costs;
4) to stimulate both the offer and the demand for financial advisory services.
In this context, the development of robotic programs that can guarantee standard "basic" consultancy at a contained cost with a focus on investments, insurance and the definition of the standards of real estate mortgages most suited to the needs of the various subjects assumes strategic importance . All under the banner of the main fundamentals of risk diversification. The robot's solution can make you smile. But London's goal is serious: to fill the void left by the retreat of the welfare state with an effective offer.
