Voltaire Indépendance Book a meeting
FR·EN

Financial investment advice · Independent within the meaning of MiFID II

Shining a Light on Your Investments

Your investments deserve advice free of any conflict of interest. I sell no products and receive no commissions: I advise you — nothing else.

Discuss your situation Why “independent”?
Portrait en noir et blanc de Grégory Molinaro, fondateur de Voltaire Indépendance
Grégory Molinaro, CFA Founder · Paris

The problem

Blind spots remain in your investments. They are not of your making.

You want certainty: advice that is clear, traceable, aligned with your interest alone. That expectation meets the structure of the French market.

Life-insurance wrappers, pension plans, in-house funds, unit-linked products, opaque fees… In France, the vast majority of financial advisers are paid by the products they sell you. Their advice is biased by design: the more a product pays the adviser, the more likely it is to be recommended to you.

This is not about individuals — it is about the business model. As long as the person advising you is paid by the person manufacturing the product, you will not know who they work for.

I did not learn this from books. I observed it from the inside, through twenty-five years of managing portfolios. That is the second difference with most of the advice market: it distributes products without having managed them. I offer you the opposite — analysis that clarifies, proposals transparent on cost and rationale, and a portfolio manager's experience behind each recommendation.

About me

25 years managing portfolios. This experience, at your side.

My name is Grégory Molinaro. For 25 years, I managed multi-asset portfolios at leading Paris investment houses — including a €1.4 billion fund distributed to thousands of savers. I have seen the financial industry from the inside: its strengths, its fees, its blind spots.

I have been a CFA Charterholder for twenty years — one of the most demanding professional designations in the asset management and portfolio management industry.

This designation, which takes several years of study to earn, carries a binding commitment to the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct — the strictest ethical rules in the profession. Their first principle: place the client’s interest above your own.

In 2026, I founded Voltaire Indépendance to put this experience at the service of one interest only: yours.

CFA Charterholder Volunteer grader, CFA Level 3

  • 2026 — Present

    Founder & Portfolio Manager — Voltaire Indépendance, Paris

    Independent asset-allocation advice for private clients, institutions and networks.

  • 2013 — 2024

    Multi-Asset Portfolio Manager — Groupama Asset Management

    Manager of the Groupama Équilibre fund (€1.4bn in assets), with index funds and ETFs at the core of the portfolio.

  • 2005 — 2013

    Multi-Asset Portfolio Manager — CPR Asset Management

    Head of the Beta Allocation team (3 managers), CPR Croissance risk-profiled fund range.

  • 2000 — 2005

    Discretionary Portfolio Manager — Société Générale Private Banking

    Portfolio management for private clients.

  • 1999

    Asset Management Auditor — PriceWaterhouseCoopers

    Audit of asset management companies, Paris.

  • Education

    EMLyon Business School

    Master in Management, Grande École programme (1998).

    Université Lumière Lyon II

    Master’s degree in Money, Banking & Finance (1996).

Independence under MiFID II, in plain English

One word, two different professions.

Choosing independence is not a slogan: it is a legal status, defined by the European MiFID II regulation. It distinguishes two types of advice: “non-independent” advice, paid for through commissions from product providers (known as “retrocessions” or inducements), and independent advice, paid for through fees from the client, and nothing else. The difference is not a detail: it determines which way the scales tip.

Hence a widespread confusion. A firm that belongs to no bank calls itself “independent”. That is true — in terms of ownership. But nine times out of ten, that firm lives on commissions paid by the providers of the products it recommends. Independent from the bank, yes. Independent in its advice, no. The decisive question is not “who owns you?” but “who pays you?”.

The dominant model

“Non-independent” adviser

  • Paid through commissions from product providers
  • Advice limited to a range of partner products
  • The advice looks “free”, but its cost is hidden in product fees, year after year
  • The adviser’s interest and the client’s interest can diverge

My commitment

Independent adviser — Voltaire Indépendance

  • No commissions, no partnership with any product provider
  • Remuneration 100% in fees, agreed with you, in advance, in full clarity
  • Unrestricted advisory universe: I recommend what suits you, not what pays me
  • One employer only: you
< 10 %

That is the share of French wealth advisers practising as independent within the meaning of MiFID II. I chose to be one of them, because you cannot enlighten a client when a partnership, a flow of money or a benefit received ties you to a provider.

My approach

Enlighten, don’t dazzle.

Science, not promises

My advice rests on modern portfolio theory and global index investing — approaches validated by decades of academic research, not on whatever product is fashionable this quarter.

Fees, in broad daylight

Every euro of fees is a euro of performance lost. I review your existing investments line by line and show you their true cost.

Clarity, at every step

Do not sign what you do not understand. My work is complete when you can explain your strategy yourself, in plain terms.

Why “Voltaire”?

Because your investments deserve their Enlightenment.

Voltaire was the great voice of the Age of Enlightenment: reason against dogma, scrutiny against received wisdom, clarity against obscurantism.

Three centuries have passed. Savings remain in the shadows — opaque products, hidden fees, inherited beliefs. This firm bears Voltaire’s name because it pursues his programme: submit every investment decision to the scrutiny of reason, and accept no truth that cannot withstand the light.

Your questions, my answers

What my clients ask me first.

My current wealth adviser doesn’t charge me anything. Why pay fees?
That advice is not free: it is paid for through the fees of the products you were sold — 1.5% to 3% a year, every year, on your entire capital. Transparent fees, paid by you for the service provided, cost, in most cases, less than advice that gives the illusion of being free.
I have a wealth adviser. How do I know where I stand?
Two simple questions are enough. Has your adviser sent you, every year, the true amount, in euros, of the fees deducted from your capital — not a percentage, an actual figure? This is a regulatory obligation. And have they reported the overall performance of your portfolio, across all accounts, calculated according to professional standards? If you have seen neither, ask the question — and watch the answer.
Do you sell financial products?
No, none. I have no partnership with any provider, bank or insurer. I receive no commissions. You keep your accounts wherever you wish; I shed light on what to put in them, and why.
I do not understand my current investments. Can you enlighten me?
That is the heart of my work. We start with a complete diagnosis of what you hold: what you own, what it costs you, what it earns you, and the risks you carry without knowing it. With that diagnosis in place, we build — with simplicity.
What guarantees your independence?
It is not a marketing promise, it is a regulatory status. As a financial investment adviser (CIF) practising independently within the meaning of MiFID II, I am prohibited by law from keeping any commission. My only remuneration is your fees. My only loyalty is to you.
Why do you write “CFA” after your signature?
Because the CFA designation tells you two things: my level of expertise, and my commitment to the strictest standards of professionalism. CFA Charterholder is not a diploma held for life: it is a professional title — like that of a doctor or a lawyer. CFA Institute, an institution based in the United States and recognised in 165 countries, counts nearly 200,000 holders of this designation. The title must be reaffirmed every year, and — like a professional body — CFA Institute can suspend or revoke it in the event of serious misconduct. Holding it means striving, day after day, to conform to the best practices of the profession. I keep this designation alive as a volunteer grader of the CFA Level 3 exam.

First conversation

Let’s shed light on your situation.

A first meeting to understand where you stand, with no commitment and no jargon. You will leave with a clearer picture — and greater peace of mind.

Request a meeting
gregory.molinaro@voltaire-independance.fr Paris, 2nd arrondissement