Financial portfolios held by Italy’s supervised intermediaries have reached their highest value since records began, according to the country’s financial regulator.
Data from CONSOB’s latest Statistical Bulletin showed the total value of financial instruments and deposits grew to €4.22 billion ($4.8 billion) by the end of June 2025, a 3.7% rise from the €4.07 billion ($4.6 billion) recorded at the close of 2024. This is the highest figure since the regulator started gathering this data in 2010.
Proprietary Trading Activity Jumps Nearly 25%
The increase was largely propelled by a strong performance in Italian equities, which were up 6.2%, alongside growth in Italian government bonds and investment funds.
The first half of the year also saw a sharp rise in several investment services, compared with the same period in 2024. Proprietary trading activity surged by nearly a quarter, while the placement of financial instruments and order execution also saw significant increases.
Surge in Financial Insurance Products
There was also a notable shift towards insurance products with a financial element, where gross premiums grew by 24.2%, driven predominantly by demand for unit-linked policies. However, the receipt and transmission of orders saw a slight decline.
Assets under management similarly grew, rising to €1.64 billion ($1.8 billion). The growth was sustained by individual asset management and Italian open-ended funds, with bond funds and money market funds attracting substantial new capital that offset outflows from equity and other fund types.
Profitability Pressured Despite Sector Growth
Yet this broad expansion across the sector did not fully translate into higher profits for the companies managing the assets. Asset management companies (SGRs) reported a net profit of €823 million ($947 million) for the first half of the year, down €31 million ($35 million) from a year earlier, as rising operational costs and taxes eclipsed an increase in net commissions.
Investment firms (SIMs) faced a similar situation, with net profits falling by about €7 million ($8 million) to €54.4 million ($62.6 million). The regulator said that for these firms, balance sheet indicators pointed to a “more variable and less favorable” profile for efficiency and profitability, despite the overall growth in market activities.
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