WisdomTree has expanded its Italian sales team with the appointments of Umberto Urso and Andrea Moro.
Reporting to Antonio Sidoti, head of southern Europe distribution at WisdomTree, the duo will be responsible for executing the firm’s business development plans in Italy.
Urso joins from Shape Q BV, a business he co-founded and launched the first B2B request for quote (RFQ) marketplace dedicated to green energy markets.
Prior to this, he spent six years at Flow Traders where he focused on institutional ETF trading and five years at Saxo Bank in a range of roles.
Moro joins Eurovita where he spent five years, most recently as head of alternatives assets, a role he has held since 2020.
Prior to this, Moro spent seven years at Postevita, where he focused on liquid assets while also overseeing the firm’s portfolio management and strategic asset allocation implementation.
The two hires mean the firm’s ETF sales team based in Milan now totals five.
Alexis Marinof, head of Europe at WisdomTree, said: “By growing the sales team, we can cover more clients and develop new relationships more efficiently. Italy is a strategically important market for the firm, and I look forward to seeing Umberto and Andrea play significant roles within our European sales team.”
Sidoti added: “Umberto and Andrea have a strong understanding of the Italian market. They are high calibre appointments, each bringing unique and complementary skills and knowledge to the team that will help us to meet the evolving needs of our Italian client base.”
Competition in the Italian ETF market is hotting up. Last October, Fineco Asset Management became the first Italian asset manager to enter the European ETF market with the launch of 11 equity and fixed income ETFs.
According to a recent survey conducted by YouGov and BlackRock, there could be as many as 834,000 new Italian ETF investors over the next 12 months.
Recognising this potential growth, ETF issuers have raced to partner with local investment platforms including Legal & General Investment Management and Franklin Templeton which teamed up with Widiba Bank and Directa, respectively.
