The Luxembourg subsidiary in charge of wealth management at Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo on Monday announced a “switch” at the head of its board of directors: moves up a notch and Bruno Alfieri moves back a notch, while CEO and chairman of the executive committee, , remains in place.

Before becoming deputy chairman, Hoffmann already knew the inner workings of the company inside out: he was the founder in 2006 of Compagnie de banque privée (CBP), which became CBP Quilvest in 2010 and Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management on 1 January 2023 when it merged with Fideuram-Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking.

Hoffmann’s career path follows that of European finance. A graduate of EDC Paris, the holder of a Diplôme d’études supérieures spécialisées (Dess) from the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne and a graduate of Harvard Business School’s advanced management programme, he started at Morgan Guaranty Trust Company (J.P. Morgan) in 1984. Hoffmann quickly rose through the ranks at J.P. Morgan Securities in London, then at AIG Financial Products in London and Paris, before returning to Luxembourg in the 1990s, where he became CEO of Dexia-Bil in 2001. He left the bank to found CBP, which he headed until its merger with Fideuram.

Last November, in a press release, Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking (FISPB)--the private banking arm of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group--announced that it was preparing to accelerate the growth of its digital wealth management offering in Italy and across Europe, in collaboration with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.

“This agreement,” said Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Carlo Messina, “is perfectly aligned with our strategy focused on growing our wealth management business and developing new digital solutions. This collaboration with Blackrock will allow us to expand our European client base by offering cutting-edge solutions.”

FISPB plans to expand its market offering both geographically and through top-tier brokerage services, hybrid advisory, and discretionary portfolio management, all delivered through digital channels.

The initiative will extend to Europe starting with Belgium and Luxembourg, where the Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management subsidiary operates and where promising growth opportunities have already been identified, .

Fideuram Direct, the digital wealth management platform for the private bank, is expected to have around 150,000 clients by 2025 (approximately 20% of Fideuram’s current client base). As of December 31, 2024, it already had around 77,000 clients and €2.9bn in client financial assets, according to the group’s annual report.

This article was originally published in .