The specialized online magazines, including MilanoFinanza, Advisor, Bluerating and AziendaBanca, highlight new research from Excellence Consulting

The networks of financial advisors, especially the main ones (Fideuram, Mediolanum, Fineco, Banca Generali, Allianz Bank and Azimut), are able to increase the wealth of Italian households to a greater extent than the overall average for the country, even if black swans, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the effects of which erupted in 2022, are not yet as resilient and lose much of the yield advantage accumulated for clients. This is what a research by Excellence Consulting demonstrates according to which from 2012 to 2021, if on the one hand the financial wealth for all Italian families increased annually by a percentage equal to 1.2%, given that it drops to 0.1% if the annus horribilis of 2022 is included, on the other hand for the customers of the six main networks the annual increase is equal to 3.3% from 2012 to 2021, a result which decreases to 0.5% if the “nefarious ” 2022.

In the detail of the study, which elaborates data from Assoreti and the Bank of Italy, the value of the financial wealth of Italian households, net of that of the customers of the first six networks of financial advisors (Fideuram, Mediolanum, Fineco, Banca Generali, Allianz Bank and Azimut), went from 3,762 billion in 2012 to 4,180 in 2017 (of which +178 in savings) to 4,697 billion in 2021 (of which +335 in savings) to 4,315 billion in September 2022 (of which +14 in savings). The consequent growth in the value of financial wealth expressed as a compound annual capitalization rate (CAGR) is equal to 1.2% from 2012 to 2017, again 1.2% from 2012 to 2021, while from 2012 to 2022 drops to 0.1%. Around the six largest networks of financial advisors on the Italian market, the financial wealth of their clients grew from 223 billion to 376 billion in the period 2012-2017 (of which approximately +128 billion due to net inflows), to over 540 billion in 2021 ( of which approximately +114 billion due to net inflows), while it drops to around 515 billion (of which +37 billion due to net inflows). The consequent growth in value of the financial wealth of the clients of financial advisors of the big six expressed in the form of compound annual capitalization rate (CAGR) is equal to 2.1% from 2012 to 2017, it becomes 3.3% from 2012 to 2021 , while from 2012 to 2022 it drops to 0.5%.

“The beginning of 2023 – explains Maurizio Primanni, CEO of Excellence Consulting – should have been the time to work on recovering the returns lost in 2022, instead the attention of insiders was monopolized by the decision on the management of inducements which will be taken by the EU as part of the new regulatory package on the Retail Investment Strategy. Our research shows that the financial advisors of the six main networks of the Italian market, even with the current revenue model based on commissions applied to products, often accused of being excessively expensive for customers, have nonetheless demonstrated over the last decade that they know how to create greater value for its customers, having been able to grow their financial wealth in the order of two percentage points of greater return per year compared to the growth of the financial wealth of other Italians. Even in 2022, a typical “black swan year” for the financial markets, with equity and bond yields both moving negatively by around 20% (a very rare thing given that these asset classes usually move against the trend others), the investments of clients of financial advisors, despite losing a significant portion of their value, nonetheless over a ten-year time horizon, continue to score a better annual return than that of the rest of the Italians.”