Founded in 2005, Valori & Finanza is a Società d’Intermediazione Mobiliare (SIM) authorised by CONSOB and the Bank of Italy, present with a network of consultants in almost all Italian regions. “It is an independent reality,” explains Flavio Francescato, who founded the company – after thirty years of managerial experience in major international financial and banking companies – and who leads it together with his son Luca, maintaining an institution that is not subordinated to commercial pressures typical of the sector in which sales objectives prevail over client needs, but distinguishes itself from the rest of the competitors by being oriented towards healthy and prudent choices and organised to provide wealth consultancy that privileges client protection and continuous and complete assistance. Flavio Francescato currently holds the position of President of Valori & Finanza, while his son has been the head of the SIM’s network of consultants for many years. He provides direct and useful assistance to clients in the field of assets and taking a distance from the typical figure of the traditional consultant who mainly offers financial products, often from the house. To do this, he makes use of sophisticated software with which the SIM is equipped and relies on a method of approaching the client that is strongly oriented by the experience gained in a family of entrepreneurs and therefore inevitably sensitive to issues that touch on the management of family and business savings as well as, of course, the personal one of the individual.
Dr Flavio Francescato, what made you decide to set up a company like Valori & Finanza?
The banking and financial system has changed. Savers are less and less attracted to traditional postal, banking and insurance institutions due to less qualified assistance, as well as to the obvious conflicts of interest dictated by standardised offers of products issued by the same companies or linked to them. Valori & Finanza was set up to offer personalised and close assistance to private/corporate clients who are looking for competent advice in savings management, pension, inheritance and insurance planning, free from the conflicts of interest that can easily be detected due to the absence of its own products or those promoted by affiliated companies, which in most other realities have to be placed. Clients come to us because we have no other priorities than their assets. This is why we are keen to offer a clear and transparent vision of the solutions available on the market, with regard to liquidity, investments, insurance and retirement provision, so that choices are made with awareness and determined through the identification of needs and planning of activities, also in synergy with the professionals chosen by the client, such as accountants, notaries and lawyers, in order to offer all-round wealth advice. Moreover, the decision to set up a company that also assists clients at their homes was a far-sighted one, as it is easy to see today, as bank branches are increasingly closing, which in some areas of Italy leave savers without any direct reference, abandoned to cold computer technology.
How does Valori & Finanza fundamentally differ from banking institutions?
The banking and financial market is increasingly impersonal, there are fewer and fewer institutions open to savers and less and less qualified assistance to support them in making choices to protect their savings. There has also been a regression in supply: authorised intermediaries, in fact, are increasingly directing their proposals towards home-grown products, and it is easy to verify this by observing that investment portfolios are for the most part oriented towards the instruments they put on the market or issued by companies in their own commercial group. As I have already mentioned, there are no Valori & Finanza branded products but we select those of the most renowned and qualified international investment houses. This implies the absence of a specific interest on the part of our network advisors, who never place products that are ‘recommended’ or ‘advertised’ by the institution and often poorly advantageous, but follow the real needs of the saver. Another fundamental characteristic is that the client can count on a relationship of absolute confidentiality, dictated by the regulations to which the SIM and its consultants on the National Register must ensure. Clients who choose Valori & Finanza enjoy a consolidated guarantee ensured by the fact that money, securities or funds will never be handed over to Valori & Finanza, but will always be deposited and kept in the client’s name in the major custodian banks and safeguarded by the maximum information transparency and protection defined by banking regulations, in a triangular type relationship, in the sense that the client will always have possession of his or her money and it will be deposited with the credit institution, while the SIM will verify on behalf of and to safeguard its assisted client that the bank respects the objectives established and what has been contractually determined, thus providing personalised, confidential assistance carried out solely in the interest of the saver. Lastly, there is another important difference and that is that our company does not have a pyramid sales structure, there are no managerial hierarchies aimed at pressurising sales that also affect the end client’s costs, and no budget is required of the network’s consultants, who therefore operate in absolute freedom to protect their clients without the constraint of reaching imposed targets, thus embracing the concept of a consultant who is a ‘fiduciary’ partner of their client, supported by an institutional such as SIM.
How is SIM’s network of consultants structured and organised?
We currently have a network of around one hundred consultants in almost all Italian regions. Valori & Finanza provides them with customised computer systems for client management, with a simple and organised way of facilitating assistance even at a distance, as well as a sophisticated software platform for asset analysis and a Study Office able to provide real time updates on products and market movements.
The advisors are all legally authorised to work outside the office, so they can also carry out their activities at the clients’ premises, who can thus comfortably benefit from a personalised service; they are constantly supported by the SIM and are experts in the knowledge of products and financial markets, trained in the understanding and application of analysis methodologies for the correct diversification and protection of savings: their training includes constant technical updates through webinars with investment company experts and technical classrooms in presence, as well as direct support with the head office, presidency, network manager and administrative offices.
A salient topic in wealth analysis is property valuation: does Valori & Finanza take this into account?
The SIM is equipped with sophisticated analysis tools with which it is possible to take into account all the elements that can establish how much and to what extent a real estate asset can be an opportunity or a bad choice over time. We know how important real estate is for Italians, which is why we are able to support our clients’ choices, but above all their knowledge of property, protecting them from the pitfalls and uncertainties of a sector increasingly targeted by regulations, taxes and costs.
Mr Luca Francescato, how does Valori & Finanza distinguish itself in its approach to its clients? Is there a method that is consistently followed by the entire SIM network?
Pension, estate planning and real estate analysis are at the basis of the study that precedes the evaluation of any investment decision, and which involves determining a choice only after a thorough investigation of the client’s overall situation and the identification of the best solutions offered by the major institutions in the sector. These are the foundations from which all network professionals start, and we would like to make it clear that for us consistency is fundamental. We focus on a different way of advising, one that disregards the feverish search for investment performance as the sole starting point and objective, but puts the client in a position to establish and quantify his or her risk exposure, providing, after analysing the client’s asset situation, the variables linked to the future maintenance of the standard of living and the prospects for the protection of the entire assets entrusted, analysing and explaining in an easy and reasonable manner which products will be preferred in the investment plan. There is therefore no standard choice of products, but rather the structuring of a customised portfolio that takes into account factors linked not only to market trends but above all to the client’s profile and what he or she actually wants to achieve.
What advice for the protection of savings?
The market is evolving at an ever-increasing speed, making it increasingly difficult for people to be aware of the choices they make and the pitfalls that can undermine the protection of their assets. Today, for example, the topic of sustainable investments is particularly topical and, in this regard, it is crucial to understand what the opportunities are but also the risks. Our system is not based on speculative investment advice and therefore wants to be distant from all those risky solutions dictated by complex instruments or fashions of the moment, favouring instead the objective of increasing the value of assets by preserving them from the impact of inflation and market risks. To increase their degree of protection, clients can rely on Valori & Finanza and its experts, even if only for a free initial consultation on the methodologies adopted by the SIM, which can also be easily consulted on our website: www.valoriefinanza.eu
