Time to restore the confidence of Italian investors

There have been many debates and discussions regarding the prospects for the wealth management and asset management industry in Italy. Despite the fact that the financial assets of high net worth individuals (those having more than $1m in assets) increased by $3,300bn between 2000 and 2002 (source: Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) and World Wealth Report 2003 and 2004), total assets in the hands of asset managers declined by $3,700bn (source: CSAM and Cerulli Associates). In 2003 and the first half of 2004, collectively managed assets increased on a global basis, primarily because of...