Banco Santander’s wealth management proposition has been resonating in Latin America in recent years. It has been one of the big engines of growth for Santander’s wealth management and insurance division in 2023, which contributed €3.3 billion in profit to the group, up 21% year on year. The bank’s strong regional footprint – as well as its presence in the US and Europe – gives it a perfect competitive proposition for wealthy Latin Americans, who are increasingly interested in diversifying their portfolio into international assets and currencies.
The Spanish bank’s growth, which is orchestrated by Alfonso Castillo, global head of Santander private banking, reflects both this external trend and its ability to present a more cohesive business within the broader group. This means it can capture new asset acquisition opportunities across the business, particularly in investment banking’s liquidity events.
Cooperation between Santander’s private banking group and the corporate and investment banking team generated revenues of €189.5 million, 8% more than in 2022, and these flows were largely attributed to new money from Brazil and Chile – as well as Miami, one of the bank’s international platforms.
The bank claims to be a leader in flow investment between Latin America, Europe and the US. Santander now manages €53.9 billion in network business volume for clients operating outside their country of residence (a 15% increase over 2022), which generated revenues of €87.7 million in 2023, a 37% increase year on year.
By the end of 2023, the volume of customer assets and liabilities in the Santander private banking group had risen to €289 billion, up 14% year on year, and the number of clients in the group had risen by 9% to 260,000 in total.
In Latin America the wealth management business continued to expand the range of products and services offered to private banking clients. In particular, Santander extended its range of alternative products, structured products, advisory and discretionary management mandates and socially responsible products. In alternative investments, Santander now has close to €3 billion in total capital commitments across a range of private market assets, including private equity, private debt, real estate and infrastructure. An example of the bank’s client-led innovation in this area is Santander InnoEnergy, a venture capital fund that enables private banking clients to invest in innovative startups in the energy transition sector.
Through its Laurion Secondaries vehicle, Santander offered clients a new fund of funds that offers a diversified portfolio of private equity secondaries. The range of investments continues to respond to new client demand and the bank is launching its first private equity funds in Mexico and has also launched unit-linked discretionary portfolio products.
Banco Santander has been one of the big engines of growth for Santander’s wealth management and insurance division in 2023. It contributed €3.3 billion in profit to the group, up 21% year on year
Another innovation has been Santander Private Real Estate Advisory, the bank’s real estate investment service exclusively for private banking clients, which achieved €240 million of deal volume in 2023.
The bank has been able to turn this revenue growth into profit thanks to its digital strategy. However. while digitalization has boosted returns – thanks in large part to the behavioural changes brought about in the region during the pandemic – Santander also emphasizes the importance of in-person service for clients and it has been investing in redesigning the physical service locations for private banking clients.
