The interview of ProfessioneArte.it

He is Pietro Ripa, Private Banker at Banca Fideuram.

Five questions to get a preview of the great art professionals, the daily challenges to be faced, the choices that have determined their path in the system and in the art market, the changes under the banner of digital and the advice for those who want to undertake the same career in collaboration with ProfessioneARTE.it.

Curiosity, resourcefulness and competence, also and more and more in the technological field. So will be the finance professional of tomorrow for Pietro Ripa, expert in financial advice and portfolio management today Private Banker for Banca Fideuram.

Financial skills, knowledge of market aspects certainly represent the conditio sine qua non not to be underestimated, but the relationships of trust to be built with those who entrust the financial management of their assets become essential.

In the immediate future there is the change of habits, the development of new solutions, the reaction to Coronavirus, in this interview Pietro Ripa offers an analytical look at the future of the art market and investments, because “who will remain out of this ongoing revolution, it will be like that soldier who presents himself in a modern conflict with a bow and some blunt arrows “

Pietro Ripa is an expert in financial advice and portfolio management, Private banker in Banca Fideuram.

Formerly responsible for the Private Banking of the Carige Group, he was Investor Relations Manager in the Carige Banking Groups, MPS, Abn Amro, Antonveneta and Credem.

He held the position of Senior Art Finance Advisor for AXA Art and Art Defender. He is co-author of “Investments in collectible assets”, annual publication of Art & Finance by Deloitte, co-author of “The law of art – the protection of artistic heritage “, author of numerous articles published in specialized economics and services magazines for businesses.

Creator and director of the “MPS Art Weekly Report”, he is a speaker at numerous conferences on art finance, he was awarded the 2016 Laurentian Medal by the International Medicean Academy and winner of the Spoleto Festival Art 2016 Award.

1. How did your journey in the art world begin?

My path began randomly, when, during a managerial “reshuffle” in an important national banking group, I found myself being the head of the Studies Office.

For me, who came from the world of pure finance, it was not exactly the “desired” that I wanted, plus the great crisis of the 2008-2009 two-year period had just started (even if for us Italians it was longer).

I then thought of something that could combine my previous skills with my new managerial responsibility and I began to develop a study on the sectors that were reacting better to such a severe crisis.

I developed an observatory on investments in luxury goods first, then focused on collectibles, which had moderate success and which, after twelve years, I continue to carry on with unchanged satisfaction, with the Deloitte company.

2. How would you describe your profession today?

I am a financial advisor and I deal with my wealth management clients as a whole.

So, in addition to the financial skills (to simplify, where it is convenient to invest your savings, given the time objectives, risk tolerance and the market context), I must also know the aspects that govern the valuation and transmission of assets overall of a family.

In Italy, the real estate component is the most predominant, followed, in some cases by the company and to a lesser extent, (even if it grows over time) by the artistic one, intended as the evaluation of collectible assets: paintings, jewelry, watches and classic cars above all.

3. How has your profession changed over time??

It is revolutionizing itself.

Today the financial skills, in my role, are the “conditio sine qua non” to be able to manage in a conscious way the savings that customers entrust to you.

Who plays my role, helps the customer to define his life plan.

If you do this job well, you become (I dare say) one of the people closest to the family: a “family consultant”. In the trusting and totalizing relationship that is thus created, you are often involved in the management, evaluation, enhancement of works of art, often handed down for generations.

I have played this role several times during the successions, for example, where, especially when there is no full harmony between the legitimaries, knowing how to promptly advise on the correct evaluation of an inherited collection has helped to resolve more than once disputes among the heirs themselves.

I believe that in the future, these skills on real estate and on the evaluation of an artistic heritage will become increasingly crucial and increasingly in demand.

4. What impact is digital having in your sector?

The drama of Coronavirus has forced us to develop skills in the digital world in no time.

Today I find myself managing contacts with my customers completely “mediated” by the technological tool and the “social” channels (especially WhatsApp).

In a traditionally reserved field and where a handshake, after signing a contract, amounts to a moral pact between the parties, it is a revolution. However, I fear that even with an exhausted pandemic, or in more relaxed times, there will still be a little “social” psychosis and our relationships will remain more rarefied.

Whoever remains out of this ongoing revolution will be like that soldier who presents himself in a modern conflict with a bow and some blunt arrows.

5. What would you recommend to a young person who wants to pursue your profession?

I often get this question from some students in art economics courses where I am a teacher.

I always answer the same way: curiosity is needed. Because professions change and evolve over time and increasingly technological tools will be used.

However, technology can become a trap, because if on the one hand it simplifies our life, on the other hand the risk is to be homologated.

The biggest mistake a young person can make, in my opinion, is to feel safe because he masters the technological means. What is needed instead is curiosity, which determines “knowing how to get one’s hands dirty”, but which also develops intuition: the prediction of how the world of work is changing, what its actors will be, what can I do to propose something innovative , not approved.

The skills are made, technology will increasingly be a democratic and commonly used tool, but how a professional does his job (whatever it is) and how capable he is of perceiving its uniqueness, will always make the difference.