CEO & General Manager Ugo Loeser of ARCA Fondi SGR: Shaping the Future of Asset Management with History of Experience and Reliability

Italy’s ARCA Fondi SGR is an asset management company that is authorised to manage the individual portfolios of institutional clients.

The company was born from the experience of ARCA SGR, founded in 1983 by 12 popular banks. Today it is owned by BPER Banca (57.061 percent), Banca Popolare di Sondrio (34.715 percent) and by other major Italian banking institutions. With assets under management (AUM) of around €32bn spread across mutual and pension funds and institutional accounts, and with a client base of over 800,000 investors, Arca has established itself as a leading national asset manager.

The composition of the AUM is divided into €25.7bn in mutual funds (market share 2.9 percent at March 2020); €3.8bn ARCA Previdenza Open Pension Fund (market share 18 percent at June 30, 2019); €0.5bn under management for institutional clients, and €2.2bn as investment manager at Sidera Funds SICAV (Société d’investissement à Capital Variable), a publicly traded, open-end investment fund structure offered in Europe.

A New Type of Governance

ARCA Fondi SGR was one of the first companies to adopt the Protocollo di Autonomia (protocol of autonomy), aimed at the implementation of a sound and adequate company framework to manage conflicts of interest to protect subscribers and safeguard management decisions. It was drawn up by Assogestioni, an Italian association of asset managers. Continuity and autonomy in operations and governance serve as a guarantee that the protection of the customer’s interests will always be ARCA Fondi SGR’s primary objective and priority.

Synonymous with Reliability

After almost 40 years of operation, Arca Fondi SGR is today one of the best-known companies in Italy. Thanks to its ability to generate value over time, it is recognized as a reliable partner. One of its main strengths is its extensive network of distributors, consisting of some 100 banks and financial institutions scattered across the country. The close relationship with its distributors resulted over the years in a successful partnership, especially for the customers who entrust their savings to Arca.

Innovative Products for All Needs

Since the first products launched on the Italian market, Arca has been able to introduce innovative investment solutions capable of satisfying different types of investors. Arca has been the inventor of Arca Cedola, fixed-horizon, coupon paying funds, which have been hailed as the greatest product innovation of the past 12 years on the Italian market. Arca Fondi is a market leader in PIR Funds (Piani Individuali di Rispamio), a segment dedicated to investments in the Italian “real economy”.

In 2019 Arca Fondi signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), which led to the creation of several ESG Funds and an innovative ESG Rating system. Thanks to important investments in recent years, an ecosystem of innovative services has been created to support customers and partners. The website, an app, a chatbot and an educational blog are just some of the digital tools that have collected awards for Arca Fondi over the years.

Since the first products launched on the Italian market, Arca has been able to introduce innovative investment solutions capable of satisfying different types of investors.

Awards

In recent years ARCA Fondi SGR has received several awards for Italian mutual funds and pension funds, including CFI.co’s Best Emerging Markets Debt Manager (Europe) award in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020 and CFI.co’s Best Pension Fund Scheme – Italy 2020.

Constant Growth

Arca has acquired OPTIMA OICRs (AUM €927m); acquisition of Vegagest OICRs (AUM €540m) and BPVI OICRs (AUM €793m) and Institutional mandates (AUM €1.074m). The company has completed acquisition of Carige OICRs (AUM €3.260m), a pension fund (AUM €422m), and investment advisory on segregated account.

ARCA Fondi SGR aims to create added value for its clients on a continuous basis. For precisely this reason, a new range of ESG funds was launched to satisfy an increasing number of investors who are concerned with sustainability. Currently, the range includes two equity and two flexible funds, but new solutions of this type are due to emerge. At the base of the ESG investment process is an internally developed rating system which allows all issuers of shares and bonds to be classified according to their compliance with ESG criteria.

CEO and General Manager Ugo Loeser

Ugo Loeser has been the CEO and general manager of ARCA Fondi SGR since 2011. He has a degree in Economics and Social Sciences from the Bocconi University of Milan, and prior to joining ARCA Fondi he had experience in investment banking and management consulting. Loeser was director at Finlabo SIM and Banknord SIM, a partner at Bain & Company Italy (promoting the practice of asset and risk management), and was a senior strategist for the European market of derivatives on fixed income at Paribas.

Loeser was also the executive director of Fixed Income Research at Goldman Sachs International, and is a member of the executive board of Assogestioni.