11May
Deutsche Bank ‘fishing’ in Caixa, Rothschild, March and Santander to strengthen its private banking

The German bank has already incorporated almost 25 high-net-worth bankers so far this year.

Deutsche Bank steps on the accelerator to grow in its high-net-worth businesses: private banking and wealth management, this second dedicated to the richest. The German bank has already made almost 25 signings -and some promotions- of private bankers so far this year, with a special focus on large fortunes. Among his latest additions to wealth in Madrid and Barcelonafour professionals have arrived from CaixaBank, Edmond de Rothschild, Banca March and Santander.

The first of them is Jesus Pardo de Santayana, one of the strong men of CaixaBank in the capital, where he held the position of coordinating director of private banking in Madrid. His experience as a manager of large assets dates back to Morgan Stanley, where he started in 2007. But, in 2008, the Catalan group took over the private banking and fund and pension managers of the American for around 600 million euros, which meant the transfer to the then La Caixa of its investment professionals.

Another recently landed in the Spanish subsidiary of the German giant is Henry Velascowho began his career as a tax attorney but then changed course to Abante as a financial advisor, where he remained from 2012 to 2018. His last posting was as a private banker at Edmond de Rothschild, where he spent two and a half years.

The third is Borja Martin, who also started out as a tax advisor. However, he then spent almost seven years at Banco Santander (including its Chilean delegation), from 2009 to 2016, as office manager and private banker, a role the latter has held for almost two years at Renta 4 Banco and close to four in Banca March before his new change. These three bankers have joined the Madrid team.

For his part, in Barcelona he has enrolled Paul Lives from Santander Private Banking. He has been linked to the Cantabrian group in Catalonia since 2007, first as an office manager and later as a private banker.

Objective, 100 ‘top’ bankers

As Deutsche Bank, whose Wealth Management and Private Banking segments in Spain are led by Borja Martos, has reiterated on several occasions, its intention was be reinforced with 25 private bankers in the first semester of 2021 and reach a total number of wealth managers on the payroll that would be around one hundred by the end of the year.

With a little more slowness with respect to its objective for June, but it has already incorporated almost 25, among which there have been some internal promotions.

The German bank’s commitment to your business core of high net worth has been articulated since 2020 under the umbrella of the International Private Bank division, created that same year and directed in Spain by Fernando Souza.

It includes all the business of individuals, companies, private banking and wealth managementthese last two operated jointly and coordinated by Martos since the end of last year, as published by Invertia.

After the business restructuring that it carried out in the geographies where it is present, Deutsche Bank stated its objective of being the bank of reference for business families worldwide.

As highlighted Claudius of Sanctis, head of International Private Bank, during the last Investors Deep Dive last December, the bank is “in a privileged position to offer this segment of clients a single solution for all their needs, both from a private and business point of view”.

At the end of 2020, the assets managed by Deutsche Bank in its private banking in Spain as a whole amounted to €10.3 billionaccording to him ranking produced by the magazine ‘Funds People’.

Among the latest initiatives of the banking group in our country to attract new customers, the launch of a platform to invest in European bank deposits (Deposit Market), the first sustainable deposit in the Spanish market (Depósito Sostenible DB) or the imposition of its DB Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) portfolios among small investors.

30Mar
Carlos Val-Carreres joins MyInvestor to launch his own ‘value’ fund

He comes from True Value, where he landed a few months ago to set up his project, although it could not be due to commercial incompatibilities.

Headquarters of MyInvestor.

MyInvestor bang on the table value investing. The digital neobank has acquired the services of Carlos Val-Carreres, a recognized former manager who has worked for firms such as Ibercaja, Lierde Sicav (where César Alierta has part of his fortune) or Singular Bank.

He arrives at his new project from TrueValuewith whom a few months ago he partnered to set up his own investment fund, although finally their paths have parted due to commercial incompatibilities and he has ended up joining the neobank owned by Andbank, AXA, El Corte Inglés Insurance and others family offices.

On MyInvestor, Val-Carreres will launch a fund under Spanish law, with philosophy value investing but with a close structural approximation to the economy (with new trends such as digitization or electrification) and of a global nature, since it will be able to invest in Europe, the United States or other geographies.

The news, announced by ‘El Confidencial’ and which has been confirmed by invested, break the status quo of the value philosophy that has been applied in recent years by managers such as Francisco García Paramés (Cobas), Álvaro Guzmán de Lázaro, Fernando Bernad (Azvalor) or Iván Martín (Magallanes). Without going any further, it is linked to the recent signing by A&G Banca Privada of Andrés Allende, whose new fund value in this house he will overturn with the technology, Asia and sustainable factors.

Very low commissions

The manager from Zaragoza is expected to have his new fund ready on MyInvestor at the end of October as a cap, and it will be under Spanish law. The intention of the neo-investment bank is to start with a very aggressive commercial policy in commissions, “one of the lowest in the market in active management”, and trying to position it as its star product.

José Luis Benito, partner and CEO of True Value, has indicated on his social networks that “we wish the best of luck to Carlos Val-Carreres in his new journey”, since “in the end not all the pieces of the Project. We call for later, he is a great friend and a great professional, so It is not a goodbye, but a see you soon.

True Value, which is funded by both Rent 4 as with Creand (the old Banco Alcalá, where they launched the active management fund with the cheapest commission in the country up to now), has its small and mid-cap fund closed for trading. Since last September 6, the maximum volume of shares for class C of the True Value Small Caps fund is one share.

This partial closure has been produced “by a shortage of investable assets that hinder optimal management of the IIC and its investment policy, so, in the interest of the fund’s participants”, Benito and his other partner, president and head of investments, Alejandro Estebaranz, came to the decision to limit it to the clients.

18Mar
The paradox of Carlos Herrera in Cope: his renewal depends on Podemos and Pedro Sánchez

The communicator faces his last season with a valid contract, which forces him to negotiate his continuity in Cope.

Carlos Herrera in a garden in Cope Madrid.

Charles Herrera It has become the media scourge of the coalition government during confinement and de-escalation. From his pulpit on Cope mornings every day he delivers scathing analysis and criticism to all members of Moncloa and the president Peter Sanchez.

Unanimously, the entire sector agrees that it has known how to capitalize like no one else on citizen discontent with the Executive’s management and channel the current of opinion contrary to PSOE and United We Can.

“She’s in her best moment”, says a radio director who knows him, but who prefers to remain anonymous. And he is not wrong. His audiences are close to his best historical data, the media impact is getting bigger and bigger and the few advertisers that remain on the radio queue to appear on his program and have him as a prescriber.

The Andalusian communicator registered 2,443,000 listeners in the last known wave of the EGM in April, which represented a growth of 9.6% and its second highest figure in this station. Herrera gained a whopping 214,000 listeners and is now only separated by less than 400,000 from Day by day of Cadena Ser, the historic leader in this time slot. When the Andalusian communicator was released in 2015, the distance was over a million followers.

A key importance also in the economic point of view. Without Herrera, the station added losses of 23 million euros between 2010 and 2015. With blacksmith -signed in the summer of 2015- has accumulated earnings of more than 20 million euros between 2016 and 2019.

New contract

In 2015, the last full year without Charles Herrera, the chain had a turnover of 88.8 million euros and obtained an advertising market share of 19.5%. With the communicator, the bishops’ station invoiced 113.5 million euros in advertising during the 2019 academic year, which already placed it with 27% of the radio market share.

A growth that has accelerated in the two years of the Sánchez government, largely because blacksmith has been able to represent the listeners most dissatisfied with the management of the Government, a group of Spaniards that is on the rise and that already transcends the criticism of the most extreme right. Cope’s communicator already represents millions of Spaniardsmany more than those who listen to him daily on the bishops’ radio station.

But all that glitters is not gold. Charles Herrera He faces the third year of his contract with Cope beginning next September. The agreement when he signed his current contract, at the beginning of 2018, was that at the end of his second season the conditions would be renegotiated. However, everything seems to indicate that it has been extended because Herrera and Cope feel like continuing and continuing to “lead the radio” as they publicly indicate.

Herrera has seen that the station respects his intention to disassociate himself periodically and that when he wants, he can take a break for a few days. As reported by EL ESPAÑOL, Herrera is taking this new stage calmly, with fewer hours on the air, freedom of action and sharing the presentation of the last part of the program with your team.

In the same way, the current economic situation and the political tension cheered since United We Can and the PSOE It has made the communicator feel stronger than ever and with the desire to continue on the front line for many months… and perhaps years.

coalition government

And the negotiation of the renewal for 2021? The sources consulted indicate that Herrera is not in the business of sitting down to negotiate yet. His idea is to stay strong and start building bridges well into 2021. As in the previous renewal he stretched the deadlines to the maximum, his idea is to repeat the model this time.

In any case, everything will depend on the current Government, Pedro Sánchez and United We Can. “As long as the coalition government remains, we have Herrera for a while,” says a manager. And he is not without reason. Herrera believes that he can achieve leadership thanks to the current political situation and wants to try.

In principle, the current Executive has four more years of Government, but parliamentary arithmetic does not guarantee anything. And Herrera and Cope will be watching. They know that it is not the same to articulate a program based on criticism of socialism, the contras, to do if a right-wing government is in Moncloa.

In this way, the sources consulted indicate that -surprisingly- the continuity and successive renewals of Herrera are closely linked to the Government that criticizes every day from its microphone. Without a doubt, a great paradox.

8Feb
‘The big swindle’ and Andrea Orcel

If there are no last-minute contingencies, the trial facing Andrea Orcell with Banco Santander will be seen this Wednesday for sentencing. The judge’s ruling may one day serve as the inspiration for a fictional film in which a well-known financier with a reputation for being an unscrupulous shark tries to break the pulse of one of the world’s largest banks.

In a report of Reuters in which the details of this dispute were compiled, the physical appearance of Orcel (58 years old) was compared with that of George Clooney (60). Perhaps, the financial press already sees the protagonist of The Great Swindle (also known as Ocean’s Eleven) playing the role of the Italian in his troubles between the City of London and Madrid.

It was in 2019, when Orcel sued Santander for not formalizing a job offer that the financier claims was binding, contrary to what the bank claims. During this time, Santander has presented documentation and messages exchanged between the president, Ana Botinand other levels of the entity with Orcel that allow us to see a good part of the ins and outs of the failed contracting attempt.

Given the firmness of his accusations against Santander, which he blames for damaging his “honorability”, it is very surprising that Orcel has reached the end of the trial by lowering the amount of his demand -from 112 million euros to 76 million- and placed as a counselor delegate of UniCredit, another large European bank.

A signing that seems to show that Orcel’s job future did not end because Santander’s offer did not go ahead. And a professional leap that has turned this trial into a problem for three major European banks: Santander, UBS and UniCredit.

'The big swindle' and Andrea Orcel

‘The big swindle’ and Andrea Orcel
EP and Reuters.

What is not possible to know are the consequences that it would have had for the Spanish bank to go ahead with that very expensive signing in 2018.

On the tenth anniversary of the financial crisis, hiring a CEO for a salary of 10 million euros, a bonus of another 17 million and a maximum deferred salary of 35 million, would not have gone down well with Spanish public opinion. Do not forget that at that time, the PSOE had just come to power and had put on the table the already forgotten “tax on banks to finance pensions.”

In reputational terms, signing Orcel would have had a cost for Santander. But what the judge will focus on this Wednesday is another figure: that of the distribution of the compensation payment that, according to the documentation provided by the Spanish bank, Orcel had promised that UBS would pay in part.

Orcel’s job jump has turned this trial into a problem for three large European banks: Santander, UBS and UniCredit

One detail is important: that firm is his previous employer… and one of the great investment banks of which Banco Santander is a regular client. That is why it seemed fitting that he assume part of that cost and thus pave the way for Orcel to leave his Holland Park mansion in London to move to Madrid with his family.

On this October 20, they will declare the non-executive president of UBS, Axel Weberand the director of compensation, Mark Shelton. They will do so by videoconference after the investment bank put obstacles in the way of both managers personally going to testify in the Madrid courts.

Among other aspects, they will have to clarify if at any time Orcel proposed that UBS take over part of the 55 million euros in which his departure from the entity was armored. Santander defends that it always put on the table assuming up to 35 million euros and that the Italian promised to negotiate with them that UBS would put the rest and failed in the attempt.

Orcel affirms that he took it for granted that his contract for Santander was made after a communication to the market and to the shareholders announcing his signing. An announcement that for the bank was a “trial balloon” to see how it permeated public opinion and among shareholders, but that Orcel’s defense presents as an example that his offer was binding.

Santander has always said that it backed down from the process, among other reasons, because of Orcel’s “unethical” behavior. Perhaps the banker’s defense is not helped by his subsequent stubbornness in trying to criminalize the lawsuit with the Spanish bank and his decision to provide private recordings with Botín and other bank executives: the secretary of the appointments committee, Jaime Perez Renovales, and the deputy general manager, Javier Garcia Carranza.

His decision to continue to the end in order not to forfeit a payment from Santander reminds some of that banker’s profile greedy (greedy) who puts his compensation ahead of the damage that this case may do to the reputation of UniCredit – an entity that now pays him 7.5 million a year.

For his part, Botín wants to turn the page and that the case be seen for sentencing, after the delay suffered as a result of Covid-19.

If the ‘Orcel case’ inspires Hollywood screenwriters, on this occasion, among the characters of the financial leadership there will be a woman and, even more unusual, she would be Spanish.

'The big swindle' and Andrea Orcel

1Jan
The CNMC adviser to Podemos warns Congress: “I am not an expert on competition issues”

Carlos Aguilar has ruled out any connection with Pablo Iglesias’s party and says that he has never seen Jaume Roures in his life.

Carlos Aguilar Paredes, university professor proposed by Podemos for the CNMC council specialized in the audiovisual sector.

Charles Aguilar, candidate for the council National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) proposed by the Government at the suggestion of Canhas absolutely ruled out any organic and economic link with the purple party led by paul churchesdespite being part of the lists of In Comú Podemto the Congress of Deputies in the 2019 elections.

Aguilar defended alongside Josep Sala and Pilar Sánchez his suitability for the position of director of the CNMC before the parliamentary commission this Thursday, the first procedure to be definitively appointed to the position.

Regarding his relationship with Can questioned in the Committee on Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation by Vox, Popular Party and Citizens, indicated that “I signed up as a militant four years ago influenced by my students. But in no case have I maintained any relationship, or charge beyond the fact that I have been asked to collaborate with my knowledge in the political discussion. “I have absolutely no relationship with the party, no financial relationship with anyone.”

“It is true that they proposed to me to go on the list to the 2019 Congress, but I did it from a technical point of view. I believe that in my publications you do not see any political bias. I do not believe that my publications are politically significant because teaching is incompatible with demonstrating a political bias.

The parliamentarians of the Opposition He has been criticized this Thursday for his teaching profile being far from what is required for a position with an eminent technical profile. “Obviously I am not an expert in competition matters, but I think it is good that there is a plurality of profiles”has answered.

Relationship with Roures

In response to the question from the deputy of VOX, Victor Gonzalez (VOX), regarding his relationship with the audiovisual entrepreneur James Roures, Aguilar has ruled out any type of link. “That someone has written that I am a friend of Roures does not have to be true. I have never seen Roures in my life, much less have I had any type of friendship with someone I have not seen in my life. This reminds that there is a need for better self-regulation in the media. I think it is an important element to take into account. In this way, cases like the one that has been commented would be avoided.

Aguilar It has also highlighted the “blurred” barriers that now exist between the audiovisual and technological sectors, which will require the action of the CNMC, with the aim of “preserving the rights of the most vulnerable consumers, companies, users and groups”, as well as to “ensure cultural diversity in the audiovisual field”.

The current Vice Dean of the FFaculty of Information and Audiovisual Media of the University of Barcelonahas assured that its function will also be to “supervise the public media and safeguard the editorial independence and quality” of these public media.

Degree in Physical Sciences, Aguilar is a professor at the Faculty of Audiovisual Communication at the University of Barcelona, ​​he was part of the En Comú Podem lists in the last general elections. He has a sociological profile, he is an expert in audiovisual (one of the sectors supervised by the Regulatory Chamber) and not so much, as usual, economic or regulatory.