About Alessandro Foti
Alessandro Foti, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Finecobank Banca Fineco, has been a featured speaker in several interviews and events between 2023 and 2024, discussing banking technology, market conditions, and investment behavior. In a July 2024 interview, Foti described fintech companies as entities that perform the tasks that banks should do but fail to execute due to inefficient IT and operations platforms. He argued that many banks still rely on legacy architectures from the 1970s and contrasted this with Fineco's internal capabilities, stating that developing a new mobile banking app costs Fineco around €50,000, whereas in his previous experience at another group, a new app could cost two to three million euros due to reliance on external components. Foti also stated that to evaluate a fintech, he looks at whether its operating margin per client is improving over a trajectory of about five years; if it continues to deteriorate beyond that horizon, he would have questions as an investor.
Earlier, in a July 2023 interview, Foti discussed the transition from a period of zero or negative interest rates to rapid rate hikes, calling it an extraordinary time in financial history. He expressed optimism about the economic outlook, saying the world does not stop and that he bases his optimism on the fact that humanity always finds ways to manage difficulties. In a March 2023 event, Foti emphasized that leaving money in a checking account is the worst possible choice and described the large amount of Italian household wealth sitting in cash "parcheggiata sui conti correnti" (parked in current accounts) as a fundamental problem. He has also described Italian investors as "straordinari risparmiatori ma sono dei pessimi investitori" (extraordinary savers but poor investors). In a 2017 interview, Foti introduced the term "Cyborg Advisor" to describe a future super-consultant who fully uses advanced technology and tools, along with personal emotional management and client interaction, drawing an analogy to a radiologist who uses detailed exams for diagnosis.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Alessandro Foti's recent appearances.
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Transcript (5 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
We are here with Alessandro Foti, CEO of FinecoBank, today also acting as a lecturer in an event, a course on behavioral finance organized by his bank. What are you talking about today, Dr. Foti?
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Alessandro Foti0:16
Well, today I think this is one of the many events we organize across the country where the main goal is to increase the financial literacy of our clients. We believe that one of the most important challenges facing the country is precisely to raise the level of financial literacy. Our country is characterized by an anomaly: a lot of savings and little financial literacy. Today we will talk about why clients are always very worried about the contingent market situations. I would say that every day there is a reason for concern, and therefore the tendency is always to have a negative view of the market, to always wait for the right moment to invest. Today we will actually explain how, if we look carefully at everything that has happened in recent years, the last ten, fifteen years, but also going further back, we will realize that the world continues to grow and progress, even in a context of problems and complex situations that are resolved from time to time. So ultimately, the real aspect to focus on is first of all a concept related to diversification: not taking risks that are linked to a single issuer, a single country, a single industry. The other very important aspect is to have a clear understanding of one's own objectives and consequently one's time horizon, and then to remember that just as every time there is a sale we rush to buy, queuing in front of the store, when financial markets are in a negative phase, those are sale moments and it's time to take advantage. So today we will discuss aspects that may seem very trivial and simple, but in the end they are the ones that must guide everyday behavior, and if followed correctly, they can allow us to achieve our goals quite comfortably.
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Interviewer2:32
So, in a scenario of zero interest rates and stock markets that have, let's say, a trend that is still to be interpreted, difficult to interpret a priori given that there are some electoral deadlines that can affect the markets, for the advisor, the figure of the advisor, what is the message that must be communicated to clients at this time, in your view?
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Alessandro Foti2:54
Well, first of all, the context of a scenario characterized by zero or even negative interest rates is helping to make clients understand that, for example, investment methods that until some time ago were considered absolutely suitable, such as parking liquidity in a checking account, are absolutely not. Let's remember that Italians still today have a problem in their asset allocation because more than a trillion euros of household financial wealth is parked in checking accounts. So it's clear that this is not the best way to invest. But as for the stock markets, what the advisor must do at this point is precisely help the client understand that, first of all, systematically the market proposes so-called deadlines, difficult moments. We have just passed Brexit, which is now almost completely forgotten. We are ready to face electoral deadlines, the referendum. We look back: we had Grexit, we had the presumed crisis of China at the beginning of the year. In short, however, in the end, over the medium to long term, markets go where they need to go, that is, the world economy cannot do anything but continue to grow. And therefore the advisor in these moments must help the client remove a bit of the background noise caused by these events and keep the client focused on long-term objectives and the correct approaches to have in managing their investments.
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Interviewer4:33
So, one last question, Dr. Foti, regarding the sector of financial advisory and asset management. These years have certainly been, we can say, happy years for your sector. Inflows have been substantial. What can we foresee in a future scenario, given that the sector is also, let's say, threatened by some factors, for example competition?
