Il pricing della consulenza in materia di investimento in Italia

Often the financial literacy of the investors, that is necessary in order to fully understand financial products and services, is not enough. In this scenario the role of financial advisors in the asset management becomes critical. Thanks to the EU MiFID directive, the emphasis on financial counselling has sharply increased. The legal status of consultants and the possible conflict of interest in their business (both advisory and brokerage) have been the main factors taken into account. The paper reports the results of a survey on the Italian market, in order to highlight (1) the pricing policies of the advisory industry in Italy and (2) the gap with other countries, with a special focus on US and Australia. Results suggest that the legal status of financial advisors is a key-factor of the pricing policies decisions. The business size of the advisors and his education (degree, masters, PhD etc.) seem to be really important too. Comparing the pricing policies of the Italian market and the American and Australian ones a huge difference arises. That dissimilarity between them can be just partially attributed to differences in domestic regulations and supervisory rules.