(Finance) – Alignment between the interests of investors and those of the manager, expansion of the customer base of ad hoc financial products – from large investors to retail customers – and focus on financial education – to prevent those who look out on the markets from being captured from risky instruments or instruments that do not correspond to its real needs. They are the main elements on which Rigsave founded its own success and that have made it grow, to the point that the company is now ready to land on Piazza Affari. The wealth management house founded in 2014 on the initiative of Michele Basilicata, Giovanni Gervasi and Salvatore Gervasi, professionals with experience in the banking and insurance fields, is in fact working for be listed on Euronext Growth Milan (EGM) by the summerthe Borsa Italiana market dedicated to SMEs with high growth potential.
The project, which started from the back room of a bar in Brescia and from the chats between friends, originates from the dissatisfaction of the three founders with some working methods of traditional financial institutions. “There retail customers in Italy it is often mistreated by all those companies – such as banks, insurance companies and investment firms – that place shelf products, proposing to the client a medicine that he does not even need “, Michele Basilicata explains to Finance.” We had known each other for some time with Giovanni and Salvatore, we started talking about the things we did not like in the ordinary activity on clients. and so we put together some ideas. I had more of a commercial profile, Giovanni knew how to structure financial products, launch and manage them, while Salvatore had this ambition more linked to fintech of being able to reach people both traditionally and through an app “.
The structure of the group
The three started with obtaining a license in Luxembourg and from the structuring of what they call the “milestone” on which the Rigsave project is based. This is the operation that led to the birth of Rigsave Absolute Alpha Fund (RAAF), a closed-end alternative investment fund fueled by the sums collected through the proceeds from the sale of a bond and which detaches a coupon of 70% of the yield to bondholders and 30% to Rigsave as the owner of the fund shares. “It is a bond issued by our securitization vehicle established in Luxembourg, which, as underlying, has a credit of the securitization vehicle towards the closed-end investment fund – explains Basilicata – The bondholder buys the bond and the securitization vehicle lend money to the fund to be able to invest it according to a multi asset class strategy. And so we can say to the investor: you do not pay entry fees, you do not pay exit fees, you do not pay management fees – because in the end the underlying is a fund – but if monthly we realize a performance (therefore the NAV of the fund performs), 70% goes to the investor and 30% remains to Rigsave“.
After the success of this product, the group began to structure and expand its offer. Rigsave SpAthe parent company that owns the companies without intervening in the operational management of the individual subsidiaries, controls Rigsave Capital Ltdthe asset management company with offices in Italy and Spain, and authorized to operate in six other European countries in freedom to provide services, and Rigsave Tech, the fintech company that is developing a digital banking app, by applying to the Bank of Italy for a payment institution license. In addition, the satellite and ancillary companies Rigsave SICAV (for the creation of UCITS funds) e Pareto Securities Sarl (the securitization vehicle) make it possible to integrate the entire production chain and close the cycle that goes from structuring to the management and distribution of financial products and services.
The digital banking and investment app
One of the projects the company is focusing more efforts on at the moment is the launch of iCashly, an app that incorporates electronic payment circuits, a marketplace platform with clustered products, model portfolios and a consulting and advertising center. “The goal will be to give this tool free of charge to customers, creating engagement phases in terms of gaming and learning in the financial field, and above all to show the customer that through Rigsave they can be purchased financial products in a protected area – explains Giovanni Gervasi – The app will be a sort of fence where the customer can buy products other than those he finds in the bank, but at the same time without the risk of falling into financial traps: ours it will not be a trading platform, but a platform where you can pay, invest and learn“.
Indeed, Rigsave intends to pay great attention to financial education. “In this area there is a basic problem, as everyone should have that healthy curiosity that leads to pay attention to how their money is managed, and there is the fact that Italy does not have a good positioning on the financial education – continues Gervasi – We in our small way are trying to do something, through videos where we try to bring difficult topics with simpler language“.
This also passes, the managers underline, in transforming the Mifid legislation from a nuisance to a strength and an experience for the customer to live. “If you have an approach to finance as if you were in a casino in Monte Carlo or Las Vegas, you don’t understand anything: there are people with more resources and skills who eat up all your savings”, says Gervasi. Rigsave instead intends to transform the onboarding process in an innovative way, using the Mifid questionnaire to improve the customer’s approach to investments.
The thrust of the listing
The listing is a tool to accelerate the growth path and gain visibility. “To us it is necessary to make known that we exist and to make known what we dobecause normally people think that finance and investments are speculation and only red and black “, says Gervasi. Opening the capital to new shareholders will not mean losing one’s independence, a characteristic that the founders care a lot about.
This also means build the products in house, to have lower costs, and make partnerships with realities that share the same values (in Italy they were made with Copernico SIM and Banca Ifigest / Fundstore). “Abroad we are working with the same philosophy – says Basilicata – We know very well that partnerships are important to grow faster, but we don’t want to sell out and above all we don’t want to make deals with big names or big houses, precisely because we would like to grow slowly. “.
The industrial plan of the Brescia group essentially envisages three investment pillars: for the Rigsave Absolute Alpha Fund (RAAF) pillar, finance will continue to arrive through the sale of bonds on the secondary market; for the two pillars Rigsave Capital Ltd, which is the highest licensed asset management company globally, and Rigsave Tech, the capital that will be raised with the listing will be divided respectively at 30% and 70%.
“The 30% allocated to Rigsave Capital Ltd will be allocated toopening of new branches in other European countries – explains Gervasi – in Germany in Munich, in France in Paris, in Austria in Vienna and in the UK in London. “The group is already present in Italy and is finalizing operations in Spain in recent weeks.
Of the remaining 70% employed in Rigsave Tech, 25% is to strengthen the team of computer engineeringa 25% per governance & staff (as there are specific figures to hire for payment companies). “After that we have a 50% of the budget that will be used for the license transfer in the various European cities, or rather translating the app and all the documentation – explains the manager – In this way we will be able to make our business model truly scalable and serve 76 million European families “.