Azimut Launches a Digital Fintech Company with the Aim of Listing

Azimut doubles down and launches an operation to spin off almost half of the Italian network of financial advisors, which will merge into a new digital bank with the aim of listing it within 6-9 months.

The financial advisors of the new reality will be assigned 2% of the capital every year in the first 5 years, up to a total of 10%. Azimut Holding should not be affected by the separation, as it will maintain a twenty-year contract on the share of revenues produced by the assets existing at the time of the contribution, and will make use of the banking services of the new institution, with a name yet to be defined.

The new reality, effectively independent from the Azimut group and of which the internal manager Paolo Martini will be CEO, will also be able to include banking/financial partners in the shareholding structure and will have at the start at least 20 billion in assets under management to which approximately 1,000 consultants refer financial and will be characterized by a strong orientation towards growth.

The new company, once the authorizations have been obtained and the activity has started, has the objective of doubling the profits and the assets managed/administered in 5 years, in normal market conditions, in line with what has always been achieved by the Azimut Group in previous industrial plans. In the first five years, the collection of managed, insurance, advisory and administered savings is expected to be between 16 and 19 billion euros, the growth of liquidity and current accounts between 7.5 and 10 billion euros.

By 2029, the plan involves the inclusion of 500 new professionals from the market, including Wealth Managers, private bankers and financial consultants also thanks to the possibility of being able to participate in the company’s capital. In order to support and enhance the activity of financial advisors and diversify the sources of growth and revenues, the new fintech bank will have a stake in the capital of ‘Azimut Marketplace’, the digital platform for services to SMEs which in just over 2 Over the years it has already reached 11,500 corporate customers, supporting them in their growth.

Furthermore, two new initiatives are being studied relating to the launch of a distribution network of financial advisors in Spain and a partnership with an important family office in Italy focused on ultra high net worth customers. Azimut Holding remains independent and listed on the stock exchange, with Timone Fiduciaria maintaining the role of reference shareholder.

Azimut Holding, which will continue to operate without a banking license, will continue its growth strategy according to the Group’s current business model, which will be confirmed by the next strategic plan 2025-2029, to be presented “in the coming months.”

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The founder and owner of Azimut, Giuliani, explained the reasons for this move

“In the last year our banking rivals (including Fineco, Mediolanum, Banca Generali , ed.) have strengthened their profits compared to us, above all by investing their customers’ liquidity. The sector has an average liquidity of 23% liquidity, we have only 2%”. With a banking license, the Azimut branch estimates it will raise between 7.5 and 10 billion in liquidity, and realize “160 million in net profit in the first year alone”, added Giuliani. At the multiple of the banks-managers, equal to 12-14 times the profits, a valuation of “1.8-2.2 billion euros comes out, which will go to the shareholders of Azimut.

“Let’s spinoff and create a digital bank and maybe the we’ll shoot the pigeon”, said Giuliani , who is aiming for strong recruitment in the coming years (500 new entries into the nascent bank) also thanks to the distribution mechanism of 2% of the annual capital in the first five years.

The feeling, behind the scenes, is that there are already contacts with banking operators, ready to invest in the new company to ensure the management of its savings assets, and a well-established professional network. “We have contacts with the banks and we have had them, there is a lot of interest – Giuliani told journalists -. If there are banking institutions that come with a serious offer, we create the bank with them.

To be creative you can do it with two, one small and one large. If they don’t arrive, we’ll do it ourselves: we want to be quick. We at Azimut Holding will stay below 10%, to avoid falling back into banking regulation.” To those who asked if the investing bank will be Unicredit, which has recently distribution agreements on its branches of Azimut savings products, Giuliani replied: “On Unicredit I can only say no comment, go and ask Andrea Orcel, he will answer if he wants to.”

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