Lorenzo Banchero — perhaps the leading Italian shipbroker of his generation — has died.
He was a charismatic figure who will be remembered for his role in helping grow Banchero Costa (Bancosta) into Italy’s and one of the world’s leading shipbroking operations.
Banchero, who was 88 and whose funeral will be held on Monday, never lost his love of shipbroking. He was instrumental in helping the family-owned shop face the challenges in an age of globalisation.
“The real question,” Banchero told TradeWinds two years after he acquired shares from his former partner Umberto Costa in 1999, “is whether a company from a regional market, like this one, will be able to become one of the international players.”
That led to the shipbroker’s expansion from what it deemed a provincial Italian market onto the international stage.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, when many Italian brokerages were fighting a rearguard action to defend their home market, Bancosta set about turning his company into a global player.
The result was a large and expanding network of overseas offices in Asia.
A discreet and intelligent man, Banchero ascribed his success to hard work.
Talking to TradeWinds after turning 80 in 2015, he said he belonged to a generation that had no time for golf, entertainment or the like: “Many of us started with nothing, so our idea was to make a bit of money and have a better life.”
Banchero’s easy, self-deprecating manner won him many friends over the years.
His professional services to shipping earned him the equivalent of an Italian knighthood in 2011, which he was keen to play down.
Born and educated in the province of Genoa, Banchero entered the shipbroking business in 1949. His entrepreneurial step came in 1968 when he and partner Costa established their own brokerage, initially in the dry cargo chartering business.
“The two of us and the secretary just thought it was worth having a go,” Banchero told TradeWinds.
Over time, the business expanded into tankers, agency, sale and purchase, insurance and finance.
Banchero, who was owner and president of the family-holding firm Banchero Costa Finanziaria, was admired by competitors as an exceptional manager.
He was married to the late Maria Luisa Molinaro. Banchero is survived by daughters Raffaella and Laura, while his sons, Massimo and Alberto, are part of the management team involved in the day-to-day running of the company.
