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A family office is putting mindfulness and empathy at the heart of its business. CEO Luca Farinella tells finews.asia what the new methods can teach traditional wealth managers.

Ex-trader Luca Farinella is an unlikely family office founder. A «quarter-life crisis» in 2005 led him to leave his job on the trading floor of Banca della Svizzera Italiana, or BSI, for the slower pace and longer-term view of a private banking job.

«I remember clearly going home, laying down, and still hearing phones ringing» on the trading floor, he told finews.asia. 

Back to Core Principles

BSI later became one of dozens of banks snagged in a U.S. probe over stowing assets for wealthy Americans. For Farinella, the incident coincided with what he felt was a rift in private banking.

«We’ve seen a shift in the wealth management industry where stakeholders have become separated, with banks on one side, and families and entrepreneurs on the other,» the 41-year-old said. «I truly believe we need to get back to core principles and ethics.»

Lessons From BSI 

The Italian banker left BSI altogether in 2009 and set up V3, a family office, in response to what he felt was going wrong. Farinella doesn’t disclose specifics of his experience with the U.S. at BSI, saying only «that was one of the tough times, but if you do the right thing and take these sorts of situations seriously, there can be positive outcomes and changes.»

That has certainly proven true for Farinella, who nearly ten years on is sole owner and CEO of the eight-strong Geneva-based boutique.

Rejecting the Old-Guard Approach

The boutique based in Geneva, Switzerland, doesn’t disclose its assets, but is believed to administer north of $1 billion. V3 counts among its employees industry veterans such as Mark Wells, previously the investment chief of the family office of American basketball billionaire Clay Bennett.

A central pillar of V3 is Farinella’s rejection of the old-guard approach of peddling products or talking at clients. Instead, V3 banks on technology and an inquisitive probing that it calls a life audit.

«Adapt to Clients, Not They to You»

«It doesn’t matter if you are dealing with a family, male, female, LGBT – whatever. Every individual is exactly that,» Farinella said. «There is a strong need to shut up and listen, basically adapt to your client as opposed to making your client adapt to you.»