(Finance) – Gli domestic institutional investorsi represented less than at the end of 2023 2 billion euros of investments in the FTSE MIB, behind institutional investors from countries such as the United Kingdom (more than 3.5 billion), theEurope (more than 6 billion) and the United States (more than 7.5 billion). This confirms a clear dominance of foreign funds in the shareholding structures of Italian listed companies, with consequent significant impacts in terms of performance in periods of market stress, due to the greater volatility of investments foreign compared to significant stability on the part of domestic ones. It is one of the findings that emerged from the research “The state of the art of investments in listed companies in Italy: evolution or involution? What future prospects?” presented during the eleventh edition of the conference promoted by EQUITA in collaboration with Bocconi University held today at the Grande Auditorium of SDA Bocconi School of Management.
If you look at the so-called long-term Italian institutional investors as the Provident Fundsi.e. those entities that are considered most important for the purposes of supporting the “Country System” (not only for listed companies but also for unlisted companies and for infrastructure investments), the percentage of assets invested in Italy is constantly decreasing, due to favor of the portion invested abroad.
This dynamic can be attributed to the will of diversify geographically but, above all, to the ability of foreign markets to offer investment opportunities interesting in terms of flexibility, type of products and performance. The same trend is confirmed by the composition of investments of complementary pension schemes, where the “Italian product” fell from approximately 28% in 2018 to approximately 21% in 2022 of total investments, and where a large part of this percentage is attributable to securities state and less than 1% is invested in domestic stocks.
The insurance Italian they also represent a long-term investor who over time has dedicated a very limited percentage of his investments to domestic stocks, between 2 and 3% of total assets.
At the beginning, after the introductory greetings of Francis BillariRector of Bocconi University, and of Andrew VismaraCEO of EQUITA, Stephen Toll boothsDean of the SDA Bocconi School of Management and Algebris Chair of Long Term Investment and Absolute Return, and Stephen CatsAntin IP Associate Professor of Infrastructure Finance and BAFFI Center of Bocconi University, presented the results of the research – promoted within the multi-year partnership between EQUITA and Bocconi University, the latter started in 2013 and renewed in 2024 for the next three years – which highlights how the lack of domestic investors in a country’s listed companies is a shared theme at a European level, although much more marked for Italy. The data underline the need to launch coordinated initiatives at a domestic level, capable of making our market more competitive and which can possibly benefit from other future initiatives at community level.
Among the conclusions of the research, a was also proposed work program aimed at bridging in the short and medium term i gap structural and consolidated aspects of the Italian capital market compared to those of other economies. Between suggestions we find: the creation of large investment funds, capable of investing in listed SMEs and which also involve public entities and domestic financial institutions as anchor investors; the creation of a campaign dedicated to the subscription of listed shares, replicating the success of the BTP Valore initiative with new initiatives that could be called Italian Equity Valore; the development of research activities on Italian listed companies through the creation of mutual structures for the benefit of the entire system; the inclusion of objectives linked to the development of the capital market in the tasks of the supervisory authorities; a review of corporate taxation, which allows the connection between savings and economic development to be structurally supported through the capital markets.
In addition to the presentation of the research, the event saw the institutional intervention of the Hon. Federico Brakes, Undersecretary of State for Economy and Finance, and two round tables attended by experts from the world of finance and representatives of institutions. In the first debate – moderated by Stefano Caselli and entitled “What tools to incentivize investments in Italian listed companies” – speakers included Giulio Centemero, Finance Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Stefano Firpo, General Director of Assonime, Antonio Misiani, Vice President of the Fifth Senate Commission (Economic Planning, Budget), and Silvia Rovere, founder and CEO of EQUITA Real Estate. On the second panel – moderated by Marco Ventoruzzo, Full Professor of Commercial Law at Bocconi University, and entitled “After the Capitals DDL and the Listing Act: a European and Italian industrial policy for the capital markets” – spoke Federico Cornelli, CONSOB Commissioner, Davide Serra, Founder and CEO of Algebris Investments, and Fabrizio Testa, CEO of Borsa Italiana.
The event then concluded with greetings from Will be TicketsPresident EQUITA, ed Andrew SironiPresident of Bocconi University, who wanted to reiterate the importance of a systemic effort to facilitate and accelerate the development of capital markets.