Adriano B. Lucatelli (born 1966) is a Swiss entrepreneur and investor in the financial services industry.

Life

Adriano Lucatelli was born on 23 February 1966 in

Uster Uster (; , ) is a town and the capital of the Uster District in the Swiss canton of Zürich. The importance of the town of Uster has grown considerably with the construction of the S-Bahn network of the Zürich Transport Network. With over 36,0 ...

near

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and is a dual citizen of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. His father’s side of the family originated from

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

in southern Italy and was primarily active in agriculture and the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

. His mother’s side of the family originated in

Central Switzerland Central Switzerland is the region of the Alpine Foothills geographically the heart and historically the origin of Switzerland, with the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Lucerne and Zug. Central Switzerland is one of the NUTS 2 s ...

. His great-grandfather was the entrepreneur and pioneer in electricity Zeno Durrer, and his great uncle was

Ludwig von Moos Ludwig von Moos (31 January 1910, in Sachseln – 26 November 1990, in Bern) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1959–1971). Von Moos was a member of the cantonal government of Obwalden from 1946 to 1959. He was el ...

, a member of the Swiss federal government (the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand co ...

) and

President of the Swiss Confederation The president of the Swiss Confederation, also known as the president of the confederation, federal president or colloquially as the president of Switzerland, is as ''primus inter pares'' among the other members of the Federal Council (Switze ...

(1964 and 1969).

Education and training

Adriano Lucatelli attended high school in Zurich, where he graduated at the top of his class. Prior to his studies, he trained as a foreign exchange dealer at

Union Bank of Switzerland Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) was a Swiss Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company located in Switzerland. The bank, which at the time was the second largest bank in Switzerland, merged with Swiss Bank Corporation in ...

in Zurich and Berne. Lucatelli studied

international affairs International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

and economics at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

(BA) and at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(MSc). Before completing his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

, he did a six-month stint at the General Secretariat of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. While working, Lucatelli completed an MBA program at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

( N.Y.), an advanced management program at the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

and an executive program at the

Singularity University Singularity Education Group (using the public names Singularity Group, Singularity University or SingularityU) is an American company that offers executive educational programs, a business incubator, and business consultancy services. Although t ...

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

Career

He started his career in 1994 at former

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

, where he held various managerial positions in Zurich and London. From 2002 to 2009 Lucatelli was managing director and member of the management committee at

UBS UBS Group AG (stylized simply as UBS) is a multinational investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland, with headquarters in both Zurich and Basel. It holds a strong foothold in all major financial centres as the ...

Switzerland in

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

and Zurich. Since 2009, Lucatelli has been an entrepreneur and investor in financial services and is considered a Swiss fintech pioneer. Lucatelli was the first external investor in the software company Additiv AG, where he also served as chairman until his sale of his stake for an undisclosed sum. In 2015, Lucatelli launched Descartes Finance AG, now a FINMA-approved WealthTech firm, which mainly offers banking as a service (BaaS). Its clients include the largest Swiss Neobank Yuh AG (joint venture between Swissquote and Postfinance), Glarner Regionalbank and Investas AG. From 2012 to 2018, he lectured part-time at the

Publications

He is the author the book Finance and World Order (1997), which has been widely cited, including by sociologist

Ulrich Beck Ulrich Beck (; 15 May 1944 – 1 January 2015) was a German sociologist, and one of the most cited social scientists in the world during his lifetime. His work focused on questions of uncontrollability, Sociology of scientific ignorance, ignora ...

in his standard work World at Risk (2008). He is also the author of investor guides such as Off-Target Corporate Governance (2013), and The Fine Art of Efficient Investing (2015). In 2018, he co-authored with Lucienne C. Vaudan “Eine kurze Reise durch die Finanzmärkte.”

Investment expertise

Lucatelli's main research interest lies in determining the main factors influencing the increase in company value. In this context, Lucatelli, together with

Ernst Fehr Ernst Fehr (born 21 June 1956 in Hard, Austria) is an Austrian-Swiss behavioral economist and neuroeconomist and a Professor of Microeconomics and Experimental Economic Research, as well as the vice chairman of the Department of Economics at the ...

, calculated the Market-Adjusted Performance Indicator (MAPI) for listed Swiss companies for the first time and showed that good

corporate governance Corporate governance refers to the mechanisms, processes, practices, and relations by which corporations are controlled and operated by their boards of directors, managers, shareholders, and stakeholders. Definitions "Corporate governance" may ...

systematically generates shareholder value, as evidenced by the fact that the shares of these companies have in some cases achieved significantly better results than the market average as measured by the broad-based

Swiss Performance Index The Swiss Performance Index (SPI) is a wide total-return index that tracks equity primarily listed on SIX Swiss Exchange with a free-float of at least 20%, and excluding investment companies. The index covers large, mid and small caps and is ...

(SPI).

Awards and recognition

In 2011, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the College of

Liberal Arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

at the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded ...

. He was subsequently recognized by the Swiss business magazine

Bilanz ''Bilanz'' (, ''Balance'') is a biweekly business magazine published in Zürich, Switzerland, which has been in circulation since 1977. The magazine started its edition in Germany in 2014. History and profile ''Bilanz'' was established in 1977 ...

as one of the top 100 Swiss bankers.

Personal life

Lucatelli is an honorary member of

Pi Sigma Alpha Pi Sigma Alpha ( or PSA), the National Political Science Honor Society, is the only honor society for college and university students of political and social sciences in the United States. Its purpose is to recognize and promote high academic ...

(

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political scientists in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, it publishes four ...

) and a member of the Athenaeum Club in London. Lucatelli is interested in

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

and holds a pilot's licence for helicopters ( Jet Ranger and

Bell 407 The Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter. A derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, the 407 uses the four-blade, soft-in-plane design rotor with composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa ...

). His favourite movies are

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis. An adaptation of the Forrest Gump (novel), 1986 novel by Winston Groom, the screenplay of the film is written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks in the title rol ...

(1994) and

The Big Short ''The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine'' is a nonfiction book by Michael Lewis about the build-up of the United States housing bubble during the 2000s. It was released on March 15, 2010, by W. W. Norton & Company. It spent 28 weeks on '' ...

(2015). In sports, he supports the

Grasshopper Club Zurich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional multisports club based in Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hoppers''. The oldest and b ...

and

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

.https://fundplat.com/interview/nach-einer-helikopter-landung-ist-mein-kopf-jeweils-komplett-durchgelueftet/

Quotes

"If finance can't improve the lives of people, we have no use for it." "Visions also have to be solidly financed." "What is wrong economically can't be right politically."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucatelli, Adriano Swiss businesspeople Living people 1966 births University of Nevada, Reno alumni University of Zurich alumni University of Rochester alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics People from Uster