Giambattista Atzeni on why family is the most important investment

It’s a 200-plus year history that sets BNY Mellon apart in the investment industry. The company has navigated through times of prosperity, times of uncertainty and times of possibility. It leads with an active wealth approach that’s rooted in a deep understanding of who its clients are, bringing it the immeasurable success that matters most: highly satisfied, loyal clients that have walked beside the company for generations.

The investment boutique’s Senior Director, Giambattista Atzeni, has only been with the company for a little more than 13 years, yet his family-first values make it seem like he’s been a part of the BNY Mellon family for a lifetime.

Tasked with advising individuals, families and single-family offices on matters related to their long-term financial and intergenerational wealth planning, Atzeni helps his clients ensure their financial assets are safe, relevant and fit for purpose.

He sees investment as a mere tool and notes there are many wonderful investments in any given economic cycle. It’s the relevance of that tool for the family that, he says, is the most important to understand.

"If there is one investment I would suggest, at any point in time, it is to invest in the family’s infrastructure," Atzeni says.

That infrastructure includes things like the way the family makes decisions, identifies objectives for family members and identifies members within or outside the family who are going to cater to the investments of the family.

"That is the investment that you are never going to have enough of," he says. "It will enable you to identify a methodology to make those educated investment decisions."

It’s good advice like this that BNY Mellon says makes a measurable difference. And it’s applied to each client the company interacts with.

The global leader in investment services and investment management crafts a customised strategy around its five essential wealth practises – invest, borrow, spend, manage and protect – to empower its clients to confidently navigate the unpredictable and unexpected.

These values are part of what prompted Atzeni and BNY Mellon to attend the invitation-only Investing in a New Age event in Dubai. Here, influential leading families from around the world came together at Anthony Ritossa’s 8th Global Family Office Investment Summit. The event saw a record-breaking number of global business deals funded.