Wealth management and private banking, Cherry Bank doubles in Verona

Cherry Bank doubles in Verona, focusing on wealth management and private banking, and confirms its medium-long term growth ambitions, also through new M&A operations. The institute led by CEO Giovanni Bossi, which last spring completed the integration of Banca Popolare Valconca, also from an IT point of view, in mid-November presented the new wealth and private offices in the centre of Verona, a few steps away from the existing branch.

"We are 'opening' new branches 'and strengthening our presence in the territory, absolutely in countertendency with respect to a banking system that is desertifying the country,' comments Bossi, who is also the main shareholder of the bank specialising in the retail, corporate and wealth management segments, as well as active in NPLs, special situations and tax credits. In the Triveneto alone, moreover, the number of branches has fallen by 600 over the past five years, following the big banks' decision to expand their physical networks in the area, which has created some extra room for smaller banks to carve out areas of intervention thanks to offers tailored to potential customers. In this context, wealth management offers significant opportunities thanks to the fall in interest rates, which will lead more and more customers to move towards managed assets to defend the profitability of their investments.

"The mass of Italians' savings continues to grow and there is plenty of room to work on it and to grow vigorously," Bossi notes. Especially since banks are also being pushed towards wealth by 'an obvious regulatory and market incentive: it is an activity that absorbs very little capital with very high returns on assets'. "The difference between us and the big players in the sector, who are specialists, is that we stand to be an operator that is essentially immune to conflicts of interest, that serves the client by offering the best products on the market, even making use of artificial intelligence," Bossi emphasises. 'We think there is an important part of the clientele that is willing and happy to be treated in as personalised a manner as possible,' he rejoices. The new Verona office can count on 11 bankers, bringing the total number of staff operating in the city to 22.

On a national level Cherry operates today with a network of 23 branches, 'destined to grow'. "As far as wealth management is concerned, we plan to reach 100 bankers by 2026, today we are about half that number," Bossi points out, who for the same time horizon sets the goal of obtaining assets "between 2 and 2.5 billion". "But it is only a start," he assures, "because in order to be efficient, we need to go up and target double figures, but it is not a goal for tomorrow. "I believe that for a bank like ours to have an optimal size it has to be much bigger than we are today, and I mean 4-5 times bigger," he continues. In order to make this dimensional leap, then, one cannot only think of 'endogenous growth', but one must also continue with 'developments along external lines'. That is why Cherry has 'always his eyes open: we are attentive, there are a few opportunities on the market, but today it is premature to talk about them. Today the banks are all bloated with good results, we will have to wait for more rational times', when the prices of possible acquisitions will fall, i.e. not before 2025. Once the right scale is reached, one can also think about the stock market: 'We will go there if and when it represents a value and not a problem, a headache'. "Aiming to be four or five times bigger is a very long-term goal, but it is also a way of saying that when you have 15-20 billion in assets and a billion in net worth you have broad enough shoulders to be on the credit and financial markets and also on the stock market,' he explains. Certainly, Bossi reiterates, however, this is not a strictly topical issue: 'We are working on the new strategic plan that will run until 2027 and will be ready at the beginning of next year. And I don't think there will be a stock exchange,' he points out. Meanwhile, 2024 is progressing 'well', 'in line with 2023 net of the Valconca operation', which had inflated last year's accounting figures. "Of course, it is a very delicate moment because the market is signalling to us a slowdown in the economy of small and medium-sized companies and also a worsening in defaults by companies," Bossi points out: "There is a worsening underway that worries us," although now "the drop in rates will certainly help and that is a good thing." On the horizon, however, there is the Trump unknown: 'We believe that rates will fall, but not as much as many expect,' Bossi concludes, noting that many of the policies announced by the tycoon for his return to the White House will only lead to upward pressure on inflation trends.