Italian Asset Gatherers 23 January 2017
Update
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Paradigm shift, part 2
Gian Luca Ferrari Equity Analyst
Assessing companies’ proposition in private banking: switch from BMED into BGN In June 2016, we published a sector note focused on the effects of aggressive recruitment in a declining-margins environment (please see “Paradigm shift”, 13 June 2016”). In this note, we elaborate on an area where we see the four listed asset gatherers particularly focused and vocal: private banking and, more generally, wealth management services. The majority of the four companies under our coverage are actively pushing into this segment, and we screened their offers in the field via a mystery shopping analysis to assess their positioning.
+39 02 8829 482 Gianluca.Ferrari@mediobanca.com
Global PB growing at a 7% pa, Europe at 6%. €225bn to be addressed in Italy Global private banking grew at a 6.6% 2010-2015A CAGR, with Asia leading the pack posting a 10% CAGR and surpassing North America for the first time as the region with the largest amount of High Net Worth Individuals’ wealth. Despite a prolonged period of subdued growth, HNWI wealth in Europe is growing at a 5.9% compound rate. As far as Italy is concerned, the number of HNWIs grew by 4% in 2015 to 229,000, with total wealth managed by 253 operators devoted to HNWI (i.e. private banks and family offices) reaching €865bn. Estimates point to a total potential market for private banking services of about €1.09bn, which implies some €225bn (or 21% of the total) not controlled yet by specialised operators. Results of our mystery shopping: standardised products at a >200bps TER The result of our mystery shopping exercise is that, with the exception of BG Solution and Azimut Max, we were generally offered standardised products with pre-defined investment lines and funds selected by internal scoring algorithms. In very few cases did private bankers propose choosing together the underlying assets, and only in one case (BGN) were offered to meet the asset managers responsible for our managed account. In some cases, the minimum percentage to be invested in own funds is particularly high (BMED), so is the overall total expense ratio (TER) due to the incidence of performance fees (BMED and AZM managed accounts). Moreover, the only case in which we didn’t experience any conflict of interest between company margins, advisor’s remuneration and the product or service offered to the client, was the fee-only advisory contract proposed by Fineco. In all other cases, the inclusion of own funds made the overall equilibrium a bit asymmetric for the client. In three cases out of four we were offered products costing >200bps and with little personalisation. Conclusion #1: this is not private banking, but it’s coherent with their strategy anyway
Company
Rating
Target price
OLD
NEW
OLD
NEW
AZIMUT
N
N
18.0
19.5
BANCA GENERALI
N
O/P
20.0
30.0
FINECO BANK
N
N
5.70
6.00
MEDIOLANUM
O/P
N
7.50
8.20
Source: Mediobanca Securities
To sum up, the expansion of wealth management is the key theme in the sector at present due to the rapid growth of this business, and the €225bn potential assets not yet served by specialised operators. All Italian asset gatherers are actively covering this segment (FBK is expected to launch shortly a specific project to set-up its own wealth management platform), but mostly with standardised solutions priced above 200bps (with exceptions made for BG Solution and Azimut Max). We believe asset gatherers chose this positioning of pricing and service not to dilute their current profitability too much and not to disrupt the existing asset gathering business unduly, thus serving a richer segment while being complementary with their existing operations. However, this is not really private banking, and the upcoming introduction of the Mifid 2 regulation will make it barely sustainable to charge total expenses above 200bps (and that will become visible in absolute terms — ie €/k) to clients with significant wealth being offered standardised solutions. Conclusion #2: a nice opportunity for smaller niche players This leaves a nice opportunity for specialised, boutique-style, private banks to profitably serve wealthy clients in the €1-10m segment. Accordingly, we see an attractive opportunity for smaller niche players such as Banca Intermobiliare — BIM (not rated), Banca Profilo (not rated) and Banca Leonardo (not listed) — just to name a few. They have the opportunity to serve clients looking for highly tailor-made asset allocations at fair pricing and with no conflict of interest stemming from the remuneration of the network, or an obligation to offer products with a certain amount of own funds. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE FOR U.S. INVESTORS: This document is prepared by Mediobanca Securities, the equity research department of Mediobanca S.p.A. (parent company of Mediobanca Securities USA LLC (“MBUSA”)) and it is distributed in the United States by MBUSA which accepts responsibility for its content. The research analyst(s) named on this report are not registered / qualified as research analysts with Finra. Any US person receiving this document and wishing to effect transactions in any securities discussed herein should do so with MBUSA, not Mediobanca S.p.A.. Please refer to the last pages of this document for important disclaimers.