Santander’s progress in its family office business is recognised by the judging panel not because of any specific innovation or differentiated approach, but rather for the focus on service quality that sets the bank apart.
The judges recognise the growing reputational strength of Santander’s family offices business in Latin America, which has sophisticated clients who like to test investment theories with selected banks, but family services is a more execution-focused relationship than in the rest of the private bank.
Santander’s family services group focuses on responsiveness to client needs as the key business priority – and the bank has streamlined its back-office functionality to enable transactional speed.
Santander’s local trading desks – as well as its full-service trading desks in Europe and the US – also enable family offices to execute time-sensitive trades at scale.
Santander’s solid ESG business is another clear positive attribute for Santander’s family office clients
However, the judges also note that Santander’s regional advisory team helps to differentiate the bank against many of the local family office service providers.
The bank’s improving regional investment arm – with its growing share of capital markets activity in the region’s most important investment markets of Brazil and Mexico (as well as market shares elsewhere) – provides interesting primary deal allocation potential for family office CIOs.
And as Santander grows its corporate banks throughout Latin America and elsewhere, the family office team is also identifying synergistic, illiquid opportunities that are of interest to family offices looking for early access to innovative new companies and markets.
Santander’s solid ESG business – which it is increasingly migrating from Europe and applying to its financial operations in Latin America – is another clear positive attribute for Santander’s family office clients.