Il Sole 24 Ore | January 2023
In Italy, the success of the financial advisory network model is also (and not only) based on the incentives that remunerate professionals and distribution networks guaranteed by third-party asset managers for the proposition of their investment products.
In principle, nothing scandalous if we think that even when we go shopping and buy a liter of oil, there is a margin which remunerates the producer and the distributor and which – except for market deviations – guarantees the final consumer the quality of what buy.
Costs and commissions should be equally distributed among all stakeholders (asset managers, distributors, professionals and end investors) to remunerate the consultancy activity, avoid the risk of choking the asset management companies with negligible margins and/or of passing on costs to the end customer times higher than the returns. Given the 1,700 billion euros invested in liquidity, the suspicion arises that it is not only a matter of financial education but also of trust.
Waging war on #inducements without analysing possible scenarios could prove to be risky: 1) distributors would only offer home products, limiting the offer, the competition between asset managers and therefore probably also the quality; 2) the least well-off final investors who could not pay for valuable consultancy would be penalized (the latest #kpmg study disclosed by ADVISOR – Open Financial Communication is clear). Some reflections on Il Sole 24 Ore with Antonio Criscione.