Andrea Pignataro, founder of the financial-software company ION Group, is ranked No. 46 on the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list with a net worth of $42.6 billion. He is an Italian mathematician and entrepreneur based in Switzerland.
Andrea Pignataro was born on June 10, 1970, in Bologna, Italy. He graduated in economics from the University of Bologna and earned a PhD in mathematics from Imperial College London.
Net Worth and Rank
- Forbes 2026 list: No. 46, with $42.6 billion
- In Italy: Wikipedia cites Forbes as ranking him the second-richest Italian in November 2025
From Bond Trader to Software Founder
- 1994: he began work as a bond trader at Salomon Brothers
- 1997: he founded ION Investment Group in London, a joint venture between Salomon, which soon became part of Citigroup, and the Pisa software company List
- 1999: he left Salomon and set up ION as an independent company; under him it became one of the leading providers of trading software to the financial sector
Acquisitions
In 2021 Pignataro invested more than €3 billion to acquire Cedacri, which provides IT services to banks, and then Cerved, which collects company financial data. His holding company then invested €1.35 billion to gain control of the property services firm Prelios, completed in July 2024. ION also bought List in 2020. He holds shares in other companies, including the sportswear maker Macron.
Tax Case
In 2025 Italy’s revenue agency investigated Pignataro over alleged tax evasion of €500 million between 2013 and 2023. With interest, the sum sought was about €1.2 billion. According to Bloomberg, citing the Italian newspaper Il Resto del Carlino, he agreed in June 2025 to pay €280 million in five instalments, and prosecutors in Bologna later dropped the criminal case after the settlement. Investigators had concluded that he spent most of his time in Italy, although he had said he lived in Switzerland.
Personal Life
He lives in St. Moritz, Switzerland, is married and is a keen sailor. According to Forbes, he owns a collection of luxury villas and hotels on the Caribbean island of Canouan. He is described as leading a secluded, private life.
Why It Matters
ION’s software runs trading and risk systems for banks and other financial firms, and Pignataro’s privately held group is among the largest fintech businesses in Europe.
Net worth figures change daily with share prices. Rankings here follow the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, with wealth measured on March 1, 2026.
Image: Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, Italy, the city where Andrea Pignataro was born (file photo, 2021; he is not pictured). Photo: Ingo Mehling / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
