Andrea Pignataro (born June 10, 1970 in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

) is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

billionaire, entrepreneur and mathematician based in

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 ...

. He is the founder of the

ION Group ION Group (also known as Ion and Ion Investment Group) is a financial data and software company headquartered in London. The company has expanded rapidly through a series of acquisitions. The ''Financial Times'' has compared it to Bloomberg L ...

, which develops

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

for the financial sector. According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', he was the second-richest Italian in April 2025 with a personal net worth of US$35.7 billion.

Career

He was born in Bologna in 1970, graduated in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

and went on to obtain a PhD in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. He began working in 1994 as a bond trader for

Salomon Brothers Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York City. It was one of the five List of investment banks, largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and a very profitabl ...

, a major US investment bank at the time, which was taken over by

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

in the late 1990s. In 1997, Pignataro founded the ION Investment Group in London, a software provider formed as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between Salomon, which soon became part of Citigroup, and ''List'', a Pisa-based software company specializing in

government bond A government bond or sovereign bond is a form of Bond (finance), bond issued by a government to support government spending, public spending. It generally includes a commitment to pay periodic interest, called Coupon (finance), coupon payments' ...

trading, which was acquired by ION in 2020. In 1999, Andrea Pignataro left Salomon Brothers in London to establish ION as an independent company. Under Pignataro's leadership, ION became one of the leading software companies in the financial sector, particularly in the area of

trading Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market. Traders generally negotiate throu ...

software. In 2021, Pignataro invested over €3 billion in the acquisition of ''Cedacri'' and then ''Cerved'', two companies that provide IT services for banks and data collection for company financial statements. The holding company then invested €1.35 billion to gain control of Prelios (formerly

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is an Italian multinational tyre manufacturer based in the city of Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Borsa Italiana since 1922, is the 5th-largest tyre manufacturer, and is focused on the consumer pro ...

Reale Estate) and took over the company in July 2024. He also owns shares in a number of other companies, including sportswear manufacturer

Macron Macron may refer to: People * Emmanuel Macron (born 1977), president of France since 2017 * Brigitte Macron (born 1953), French teacher, wife of Emmanuel Macron * Jean-Michel Macron (born 1950), French professor of neurology, father of Emmanuel ...

Legal problems

In 2025, Pignataro was investigated for 500 million Euros of

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

between 2013 and 2023 by the Italian revenue agency. Calculating interest, he was due to pay approximately 1.2 billion Euros; however he managed a deal with the agency for 280 million Euros to be paid in five installments.

Personal life

Pignataro lives in

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

, is married and is considered a passionate

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

. According to ''Forbes'', he owns a collection of luxury villas and hotels on the island of

Canouan Canouan () is an island in the Grenadines. It is a small island, measuring only and has a surface of 7.6 km2. It lies approximately south of the island of St. Vincent. The population is about 1,700. A barrier reef runs along the Atlant ...

(part of

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...

) in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

.{{cite web, access-date=2025-04-21 , language=en , title=Andrea Pignataro , url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/andrea-pignataro/ , website=Forbes Pignataro himself lives a secluded and private life.

References

21st-century Italian mathematicians 21st-century Italian businesspeople Living people 1970 births Italian emigrants to Switzerland Businesspeople from Bologna Alumni of Imperial College London University of Bologna alumni