Matthias Lamberti, himself a pioneer in digital wealth management, has advised quirion time and again over the years. Since February he has been our Chief Innovation & Product Officer. What drives him and what he is working on now.
Enjoying sunrises high up in the mountains in the very early morning: when you ask Matthias Lamberti which moments he loves most, that is the first thing that comes to mind. Because for his third daughter the night was over at 4:30 a.m. as a matter of principle, he initially became a reluctant sunrise-watcher. Although his daughter now prefers to sleep in, the father of four holds on to this tradition and seizes every opportunity to take in the spectacle of nature. At home in Upper Bavaria or on holiday. To this day.
Right now there isn't quite as much chance to do so. Since February, Lamberti has been Chief Innovation & Product Officer at quirion. He develops ideas for making investing even simpler and digital wealth management accessible to even more people. But the 41-year-old hasn't only been engaged with this topic since then. He has been at it for around 15 years.
Wealth management goes digital
Lamberti studied business administration in Munich. Even during his studies, his main interest was in the capital markets. Early on he had the chance to work at a large Swiss bank, in Zurich and New York. That gave him his first insights into the world of asset management and private banking. Back in Munich, he deepened them at a renowned private bank. Lamberti was in his mid-twenties at the time. It was roughly the era when the first iPhone came onto the market. And when, with the spread of smartphones, everyday life was becoming ever more digital.
In 2009 Lamberti completed his MBA (Master of Business Administration), with a master's thesis on the subject of digital wealth management. That wealth management could be digital was still hard to imagine in Germany at that point. Lamberti didn't dwell on theory for long. Shortly after graduating, in 2010 he co-founded a startup called yavalu that was meant to fill precisely this gap. It was a forerunner of today's robo-advisors. He sold his startup to Finanzscout24 in 2013.
Shared goals
First a business degree, then in his mid-twenties his own startup meant to shake up the established players in the finance industry: seen that way, there are certain parallels between Lamberti and quirion founder Karl Matthäus Schmidt. As a 25-year-old in the 1990s, Schmidt founded Consors, Germany's first online broker; in the 2000s, Quirin Privatbank, the first independently advising bank; and in the 2010s, quirion, the first genuine robo-advisor. "I have always seen Karl Matthäus Schmidt as an entrepreneurial role model," Lamberti explains.
There is also a great deal of overlap in fundamental convictions: for example, the belief that large parts of the finance industry are primarily pursuing commission interests instead of keeping their clients' investment goals in view. Or the belief that actively managed funds are the wrong path when it comes to investing: on the one hand, because they are far too expensive. On the other, because active selection increases the risks but not the return prospects.
After selling his startup, Lamberti got to know his role model personally. They stayed in touch. Again and again they worked together on a project basis. A few years ago, for instance, Lamberti helped to redesign quirion's application process, an important building block in securing the top spot in a competitive comparison by Stiftung Warentest in 2018 for the first time.
Investing made easy
Whether advising quirion or serving as managing director at a financial services provider, where he worked for several years on scientifically grounded investment solutions: Lamberti has always stayed true to his fundamental convictions. Among them is the belief that successful investing can be simple. "The secret to successful investing is that there is no secret," Lamberti notes. "Even if so many in the finance industry, out of self-interest, say otherwise."
As Chief Innovation & Product Officer at quirion, Lamberti now continues what had already shaped his career path before, and what quirion has set out to do from the very beginning: efficient, goal-oriented investment solutions for as many people as possible, ones that are easy to access. Because even though the principles of successful investing are actually simple, many people still struggle with putting them into practice. "Very few, I'd say, want to grapple with the capital markets themselves," the investment specialist observes.
For those people in particular, digital wealth management is ideal. "If something is too complicated for me, I simply don't buy it in the first place. Our time is precious. We have demanding jobs and other important tasks in life," Lamberti stresses. "That's what people should be able to focus on." On their own family. On personal goals and wishes. And perhaps, sometimes, on enjoying sunrises in the mountains.
Find out more about investing with quirion here.
