Global Private Banking Awards 2020: Winners’ Profiles – National Winners (Southern Europe)

Best Private Bank in Andorra
Andbank

With a presence in 12 countries, a key growth driver for Andbank remains its international footprint. Last year, its AuM grew 10 per cent to €24bn ($28bn), of which more than 80 per cent are booked outside Andorra, with Spain accounting for the lion’s share.

As most of the bank’s clients are global, with strong links to Europe and Latin America, “offering global support to clients is a must,” says Ricard Tubau, CEO of Andbank.

The bank focuses on upper affluent clients, with assets ranging from €1m to €10m.

This segment offers a good combination of growth and return on assets and is less targeted by competitors, mostly focused on UHNW individuals.

“We have sufficient critical mass to compete in private banking against local universal banks and our Swiss competitors,” boasts Mr Tubau.

“Excellence in client service is at the core of our proposal, and is required in several dimensions: quality and range of services, talent and entrepreneurial attitude of our bankers mirroring our clients’ behaviour and innovation. It is a mix of ingredients that creates a great recipe.”

The pandemic validated the belief that “clients should be prepared for the unexpected,” which means that portfolios must be diversified and resilient, avoiding big risks and thus big losses. “A back-to-basics approach helped us rebalance portfolios with investments offering growth potential during the pandemic,” he says.

The crisis has also opened up new business opportunities, leading the bank to complete two acquisitions in Spain and one in Brazil, its two key growth markets. “We believe that now is a great time to acquire smaller wealth houses to build up critical mass.” ET

Best Private Bank in Greece
Alpha Private Bank Private Banking Services by Alpha Bank

As the pandemic-induced global recession makes acquiring new clients very challenging, it is crucial to build capabilities to compete in the new, post-Covid environment, says Emmanouil Arzinos, manager of the private banking division at Alpha Bank.

The bank’s efforts are focused on strengthening its advisory services, to provide added value to clients in this period of significant volatility in financial markets, while also upgrading its discretionary service offering. Portfolio counsellors and product specialists have been brought in to work alongside private bankers to deliver customised investment solutions to clients.

“In this complex environment, with low inflation rates and ultra-low fixed income yields, clients tend to rely more on their relationship managers to broaden their investment horizons, are considering more sophisticated instruments, require more personalised service and detailed analysis,” states Mr Arzinos.

The bank is also in the process of “gradually implementing” its digital strategy. Its dynamic digital advisory tool, the InvestoR Electronic Platform, has been enriched with new functionalities to enhance the advisory selling process.

Since the start of the pandemic, private bankers have been equipped with digital tools to work remotely, while mobile and web services for personalised and safe client communication are being developed. “Digital tools offer virtual ‘face-to-face’ communication, but building relationships, which is essential to the private banking business, is difficult, especially with new clients,” points out Mr Arzinos, worrying that physical distancing is affecting the social interaction dimension of the relationship, having brought to a standstill the bank’s rich programme of events.

As people’s sense of security in the country has gradually improved, albeit disrupted by recent geopolitical concerns, the bank has re-launched “motivating campaigns” to encourage Greek HNW individuals to repatriate funds held abroad into the country, which is another key objective for the institution. ET

Best Private Bank in Italy
Mediobanca Private Banking

The acquisition of a 100 per cent stake in private banking boutique Banca Esperia, which investment bank Mediobanca launched through a joint venture with Mediolanum in 2001, and the resulting creation of Mediobanca Private Banking in December 2017, has significantly strengthened Mediobanca’s footprint in private banking.

The Italian bank had already consolidated its position in the wealth management space with the launch of CheBanca! in 2008, born as the first Italian digital bank catering to affluent individuals.

Mediobanca Private Banking prides itself in providing clients, many of whom are entrepreneurs, an “exclusive private and investment banking service” leveraging synergies with its corporate and investment banking team.

“For Mediobanca, private banking has always meant acting as a link between private capital and business,” states Angelo Viganò, head of Mediobanca Private Banking. “This approach continues to be our model, and is ideally suited to our extremely select clients, 70 per cent of whom are now UHNW individuals.”

During the past five years, the private bank has been focused on illiquid alternative strategies, both investing in Italy and globally. A distinctive feature of its product offering are direct investments via club deals, where Italian entrepreneurial families co-invest in unlisted medium-sized firms with growth potential, with Mediobanca acting as sponsor for the project.

Through its private market platform, the bank launched three private market funds in the last three years, while strong synergy with its corporate finance team has enabled the firm to close “deals supporting the real economy”.

“In this low interest rate environment, private banking has provided a response to the wealthiest clients’ need for diversification, by identifying new investment solutions,” says Mr Viganò. The Italian wealth management market remains one of the world’s most important in terms of size, ranking in the top 10 globally. “This is a huge opportunity for Mediobanca Private Banking to position itself as the asset management partner of choice for UHNW clients, with wealth greater than €10m ($11.8m).” ET

Best Private Bank in Monaco
Union Bancaire Privée, UBP SA

Monaco, one of the key private banking battlegrounds in Europe, owes its success as a hub to the international clients who flit in and out of the principality for leisure or business.

“Monaco bank clients originate from a wide array of countries and the vast majority have elected to live here,” suggests Sérène El Masri, CEO of Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) Monaco.

Most stayed there during lockdown, comforted by high levels of security and the way the authorities managed the health crisis. “We also saw a number of non-resident clients fly into Monaco to benefit from the quality of the environment,” she says.

This clientele includes east European and Russian, Italian, UK and Swiss contingents, with relocations more recently from the Middle East and northern Europe. “This makes Monaco both a global and a domestic financial centre,” she says.

Because many of these local residents are in fact globally-oriented families, the bank is expected to provide sophisticated financial advice and management, alongside basic banking services such as credit cards and an electronic payments system.

“Local investors can also be very active margin traders rather than asset allocators,” says Ms El Masri. “The banks capable of providing ongoing advice with structuring expertise, across all classes, and at institutional conditions, make all the difference here.”

Clients also own real estate globally, which they expect their bank to be able to finance. Given the multi-jurisdictional exposure of their assets and family members, they also want to speak to a banker who understands the legal and tax implications for their estates, she says. Global clients are also increasingly seeking advice on setting up family offices in Monaco.

“In a nutshell, to be relevant in this market, a private bank needs to get the simple stuff right and make the difference via financial innovation, balance sheet strength and wealth planning expertise,” she says.

This innovation has included thematic investment, with the most popular themes identifying “secular trends” like medical innovation, automotive technology and artificial intelligence, among others. Impact investment funds have also proved popular, with Monaco’s banks increasingly acting as co-investment providers in this space.

“Through us, our clients have invested directly in government-leased real estate, student housing properties and property developments in the US, Europe and Asia,” says Ms El Masri. YB

Best Private Bank in Portugal
BPI

Key differentiators highlighting BPI against competing Portuguese wealth managers include client segmentation and digital transformation, according to Antonio Luna Vaz, director general of private banking at BPI in Lisbon.

“Covid-19 has made digital transformation one of our main priorities, as it is the best, most efficient way to communicate with clients through this pandemic,” says Mr Luna Vaz, who has been busy integrating his Portuguese operation, running $9bn in client assets, into Caixa’s much broader and more advanced platforms, since the Spanish bank’s purchase of BPI. “The evolution BPI has made in the past six months in this field is not comparable to any other moment in time. This allowed us to keep close to clients and to continue working in this extremely difficult environment.”

Integrating many functions with the parent institution has helped boost profitability as areas such as structured products, fund selection and independent advisory improve their efficiency.

While foundations and small institutions have in the past been a particular target of BPI’s private client operation, a more recent focus has aimed to attract non-residents, who may typically be using the bank’s Luxembourg platform. In particular, BPI Private deals with Brazilian clients and those from other Portuguese-speaking countries, serviced by specialised regional teams. YB

Best Private Bank in Spain;
Best Leader in Private Banking: Victor Allende
CaixaBank

The biggest current  transformation at CaixaBank, which profited from Spain’s extensive banking consolidation with several selective acquisitions, incorporated by an innovative technological platform, is moving clients to a fee-based service from a DIY model.

“I remember when people used to say that the Spanish don’t want to pay for advice, but that is nonsense, everyone wants to pay for something they believe is value added,” says Victor Allende, executive director of private banking at Caixa Bank. “We have a long way to go, but we are the leaders in Spain by far for fee-based structures. Our competitors are only just starting to instigate this approach.”

It is this focus on business models that he feels will define the key private banks in the Iberian peninsula, particularly when it comes to attracting talent. “You cannot change the portfolio constantly every month, that does not work,” he says. “You need a fee-based strategy in Spain.”

The aim for the ambitious Mr Allende is to stay ahead of the high quality local competition. “It is good when others are doing something similar to you,” he says. “But when you are the only one out there, doing something a little crazy, sometimes you think: ‘Am I doing the right thing, when everybody else is on the other side of the road?’ I used to worry about this, but now I know we are on the right side of the road with our transformation, fee-based structure and business intelligence.”

While there is a strong interest in the bank’s mutual funds franchise, engagement with real estate markets has fallen dramatically. “In the past, many Russians, Chinese, Latin American clients and customers from all over Europe were coming to us in Spain,” says Mr Allende. “But there are no questions from them today. They are waiting for a drop in prices.” YB