Bluerating | July 2026
While engaged in an unprecedented wave of consolidation, Italian banks are clear on one thing: the financial advisory and wealth management market is a priority. This is evident from the public exchange offer launched by Intesa Sanpaolo, in which the networks owned by Banca del Monte dei Paschi (Widiba) and Mediobanca (Mediobanca Premier) rank among the most coveted assets.
As banks seek to grow in this market and convert Italian households’ liquidity into managed savings, a key strategic issue is the service model to adopt: networks of self-employed financial advisors versus bank employees.
Major, well-structured banks—foremost among them Intesa Sanpaolo—offer both models, allowing individual professionals to choose the one that best suits their personal and professional aptitudes.
One thing is certain, however: the ability to operate off-premises—specifically, bank employees registering with the OCF (the supervisory body managing the single register of financial advisors)—is becoming increasingly significant.
Leading commercial banks operating in Italy—Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Monte dei Paschi, BPER, Crédit Agricole, Credito Emiliano, BNL, and the BCCs—are investing heavily in the role of the bank employee authorized to provide off-premises services. They are doing so through selection and training programs designed to identify top talent, as well as through conventions and opportunities for dialogue with senior management, aimed at highlighting the importance of these roles and strengthening employees’ sense of belonging and motivation.
This addresses two primary needs.
The first is to increase the proactivity and flexibility of bank employees; beyond simply welcoming customers at the branch, they take an active role in identifying and interpreting their clients’ plans—even at the client’s home or workplace.
The second is to bring in new generations of professionals to ensure the necessary generational turnover—on the supply side as well—in order to capture the largest wealth transfer ever seen. The risk here is losing long-standing clients (in 51% of cases) because their successors choose a new bank—often one that is more digitized (43%) and staffed by younger professionals (34%).
Working as an employed financial advisor at a bank generally offers an advantage, provided the bank offers services covering the three key dimensions of client planning: protection, wealth management, and credit.
With a few notable exceptions—foremost among them Banca Mediolanum—financial advisor networks appear to focus primarily on wealth management and investments, and less on protection (which requires specialized expertise) and credit (loans and mortgages), the latter of which ties up capital.
A crucial consideration for a universal commercial bank wishing to establish a network of employed financial advisors operating off-site is the provision of the equipment and tools needed to work effectively outside the branch.
State-of-the-art IT systems, efficient operations, and streamlined procedures are prerequisites for off-site work. However, these alone are not enough; they must be coupled with the ability to listen to and motivate the network—an area where some banks still have much to learn from financial advisor networks.
Nicola Ronchetti