This paper aims to give an overview of the phenomenon of automated advising in Italy (so-called Robo-advising). Starting with a taxonomy of the robo-advisor, it goes on to present the characteristics of all the players operating in the country. After an extensive analysis of the main legal and impact-related issues on the industry and clients, the author performs a groundbreaking analysis of the performance of three Italian robo-advisors over the period 2017-2023. He concludes that the performance of these advisors is highly varied but, for some, positive at least in terms of risk reduction and better risk/return ratio. Robo-advisors thus appear, albeit with some critical issues related to the effective personalization of advice, to be a competitive alternative to traditional financial advice and do-it-yourself, especially for those clients with low assets, little financial education and/or non-complex financial needs. Robo-advisors effectively offer financial advice at accessible prices for clients with low assets, achieving a level of service quality that is commendable, though not yet equivalent to that provided by a qualified human advisor. This is true in aspects of personalization and addressing the potential challenges that arise from known biases in behavioral finance.
Il presente lavoro si pone l’obiettivo di dare una visione d’insieme del fenomeno della consulenza automatizzata in Italia (cd. Robo-advising). Partendo da una tassonomia del robo-advisor, si arriva a presentare le caratteristiche di tutti gli attori che operano nel paese. Dopo una estesa analisi dei principali problemi legali e legati all’impatto sull’industria e sui clienti, l’autore effettua un’innovativa analisi delle performance di tre robo-advisor italiani nel periodo 2017-2023. Si giunge alla conclusione che le performance di questi consulenti sono molto variegate ma, per alcuni, positive almeno in termini di riduzione del rischio e miglior rapporto rischio/rendimento. I robo-advisor appaiono dunque, se pur con alcune criticità legate alla effettiva personalizzazione del consiglio, un’alternativa competitiva rispetto alla consulenza finanziaria tradizionale e al fai da te, soprattutto per quei clienti con patrimoni bassi, scarsa educazione finanziaria e/o esigenze finanziarie non complesse. Gli stessi riescono infatti a fornire consulenza finanziaria a prezzi accessibili anche per piccoli patrimoni e con una qualità della stessa soddisfacente se pur ancora non all’altezza di quella di un consulente umano qualificato, sia in termini di personalizzazione che di possibili criticità legate alla gestione di bias noti della finanza comportamentale.
The evolution of financial advice: a study of robo-advisors in the italian market
Taglieri, Manuel
2022/2023
Abstract
This paper aims to give an overview of the phenomenon of automated advising in Italy (so-called Robo-advising). Starting with a taxonomy of the robo-advisor, it goes on to present the characteristics of all the players operating in the country. After an extensive analysis of the main legal and impact-related issues on the industry and clients, the author performs a groundbreaking analysis of the performance of three Italian robo-advisors over the period 2017-2023. He concludes that the performance of these advisors is highly varied but, for some, positive at least in terms of risk reduction and better risk/return ratio. Robo-advisors thus appear, albeit with some critical issues related to the effective personalization of advice, to be a competitive alternative to traditional financial advice and do-it-yourself, especially for those clients with low assets, little financial education and/or non-complex financial needs. Robo-advisors effectively offer financial advice at accessible prices for clients with low assets, achieving a level of service quality that is commendable, though not yet equivalent to that provided by a qualified human advisor. This is true in aspects of personalization and addressing the potential challenges that arise from known biases in behavioral finance.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2023_04_Taglieri_Tesi.pdf
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2024_04_Taglieri_Executive Summary.pdf
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/218941