Despite not having reached their 40’s yet, they want to fundamentally change the market for tailor-made investment products : Stanislas Perromat, Arthur Bauch and Massimo Passamonti are the founders of Monaco-based PRIVATAM, a 2-years old fintech already leader in Latin America and with global ambitions.
This month we went to meet Mr Perromat, co-founder of PRIVATAM, to find out more about this promising company in Monaco and for whom « New York, London and Singapore, represent the past».
Tell us a bit about the origin of this adventure. How did it all begin ?
PRIVATAM was registred in september 2014 in Monaco. We are three partners, Arthur Bauch, Massimo Passamonti and myself, all experts in financial engineering and wealth management. We had met over 12 years ago in London trading rooms and naturally gravitated towards each other to work together again. We have very similar work ethics, as well as complementary characters, but above all we share the same desire of creating the financial company of the future. Hence why PRIVATAM was born.
After many years of experience, all three of us had the same realization : quite simply, our clients were missing a tool with the complete information to make better decisions and ultimately better investments. These clients, wealth managers located in multiple countries, typically spent up to 6 hours per week, often labouring through Excel spreadsheets, to manually follow, understand and reconcile their investments. Notwithstanding some honorable achievements, this took too much of their time and meant a final result that was mediocre and prevented them from better understanding their portfolios and making better decisions. Our studies showed us that investment decisions too frequently seemed to be random and not adapted to the designated risk profile.
So you decided to tackle these problems by creating PRIVATAM, a very specialised financial company…
Yes, in fact we already provide a simple and effective solution to all these problems. We decided that our approach would be supported by three main pillars : derivatives and tailor-made structured products, wealth management advisory and the exploitation of the newest technologies – something indispensable in today’s risk management. We could be seen as an external department of a big investment bank, based in Monaco and acting as sub-contractors for wealth managers. Our goal is to respond to our clients’ bespoke needs, while supported by the highest performing technological tools.
A PLATFORM LIKE AN AIRPLANE’S COCKPIT
You insist a lot on the technology aspect in your approach. Why is that?
Technology is an essential aspect in risk management. A portfolio which consists of various and complex products, issued by multiple banks, which in turn are often linked to various underlying assets is a portfolio that is difficult to follow and understand. This is where our technology comes in. PRIVATAM’s platform is like an airplane’s cockpit where all the necessary information is easily reachable by the pilot in order to appropriately respond to the exterior conditions. Put in other words, we provide hyper efficient monitors for risk management and decision making. This support allows our clients to identify the best available investments in a quick and cost effective manner.
Our solution is simple and intuitive as it allows clients to follow their portfolios with just some clicks. In some cases we also allow our wealth management clients to make our technology available to the end investors without mentioning our company and instead highlighting their brand and services, something known as white labeling.
Beyond the technology, what is your approach when advising clients ?
We determine a diagnostic for each client. Once the needs of these wealth managers are defined, we are present at all stages of the investment process. We are, above all, advisors and we do not set out to recommend specific products. We are however able to share the latest market trends with our clients. Being in daily communication with over 200 clients allows us to do precisely that.
Additionally, we have established agreements with the biggest investment banks and most prominent fund managers across the globe. This allows us to offer a wide range of investment possibilities to our clients, to guide them in the selection of the best products and to provide market insight, all through one single contract with PRIVATAM. This proposition is very unique.
PART WALL STREET, PART SILICON VALLEY
Where are your clients based ?
The majority of our client base has historically been based in Latin America. In barely two years PRIVATAM has already amassed the leading position in structured products in said region. We have recently started to slowly establish a presence in Europe, most notably in Monaco.
What are your projects at this stage of the company’s development ?
We look forward to launching our "Wealth Management 1.0" business as the demand for innovation is very strong, especially where it concerns the access to new technological tools for portfolio management as well as online consolidation monitors for assets held at various custodian banks. Final clients are nowadays permanently connected and demand that all information is made available with just some clicks.
What is the profile of your employees ?
Our team is very young, and most of our employees are between 22 and 35. These are well rounded individuals, coming from some of the best international business schools. In France for example, we have been sucessfully recruiting from EDHEC. Among our 20 employees, we count 13 nationalities, three religions and an almost perfect parity between men and women. I would not be surprised to find out we are the financial SAM in Monaco with the lowest average age. PRIVATAM is hence a young, modern and very human company which we could place in the heart of the Sillicon Valley for its technology and in Wall Street for its excellence in financial markets. And yet we are in Monaco !
On this note, how do you envisage PRIVATAM’s future in the principality ?
We see a flourishing future indeed. We feel that things are moving quickly and that new players will soon enough come here to help shape the finance and the wealth management of tomorrow. We believe that the monopoly of the big metropoles such as New York, London and Singapore is a thing of the past. We no longer need the big cities to work at a high level. Monaco, with its extraordinary quality of life, multicultural environment, security and well connected airport (Nice) has all the attributes for one to achieve excellence while still having a very well balanced personal life. I have no doubt that the principality is destined to become a financial center of first importance. We are delighted to be part of this process.
