For fifteen years, Sergio Bindi has headed Compagnie de Gestion Privée Monégasque (CGM) where he is also Managing Director.
For two years, he has been an Advisor in the Board of the Monegasque Association of Financial Activities - AMAF –
How did you create Compagnie de Gestion Privée Monégasque?
This creation was the outcome of the desire of three friends - Alessandro Cavalli, Andrea Salerno and myself. We all had a PhD in economics and experience in asset management. I personally led the asset management department of Compagnie Monégasque de Banque in 1993, before joining Banque du Gotthard as co-general manager of the Monaco branch. That is where I met Alessandro Cavalli. In 2000, we decided to create our own asset management company. We were stock and bond market analysts and we wanted to pool our skills. In 2000, we managed euro 193 million. And now euro 1.4 billion – that reflects our customers’ satisfaction, which is what we are most proud of.
CGM has been in existence for fifteen years. Any key dates?
Certainly 2006, when CGM became the only Monegasque asset management company authorized to establish a branch in Italy (CGM Italia SIM SPA).
Then 2011, of course, when the Italian asset management company Azimut acquired 50% of our company’s share capital. Azimut now holds 51% of CGM. It is the first independent asset management company in Italy, listed on the Italian stock exchange since 2004, and manages euro thirty billion.
Is your customer base mainly Italian?
80% of our customers are Italian and 20% are Monegasque residents of all nationalities. 28 people make up our staff, 8 of whom are in Milan. Our staff members are multicultural - French, Italian, Russian, German, English etc. We pay close attention to our asset management performance and less to the commercial side. Our customers are our best purchasing advisors. In my view, our business is above all about delivering performance and good advice.
What are your new challenges?
Being able to retain strong connections with our established customer base, notwithstanding its new generations. We know the parents, and we need to work with their sons and daughters. Relationships must never be depersonalized, that is fundamental in our business.
Over fifty asset management companies are now based in Monaco. How can you explain that?
Our business is very different to that of a custodian bank, which can be done anywhere provided it has the right software tools. Monaco provides both access to an international customer base and an excellent quality of life. That is its strength. Having said that, the concentration we are now seeing in large banks will also be seen in asset management companies in the future. We are starting a process of global European transparency – it is irrevocable. A country like Monaco - which offers good services, quality of life and an interesting tax system - is inevitably attractive.
