Spanish bank Banco Santander announced today the combination of its private banking and asset management businesses to create a new global wealth management unit. The new division will be led by Victor Matarranz, senior executive vice president and member of the Management Committee and former head of Group Strategy. The firm’s private banking division currently manages more than $188.98 billion while the asset management unit controls around $212 billion. The division aims to grow these assets by double digits to 2020. “Private banking and asset management offer Santander an excellent opportunity for growth. We have set very ambitious goals for ourselves and I trust we will achieve them," said José Antonio Álvarez, CEO of Santander Group. "The Santander model is perfectly fit to build a worldwide leader in wealth management based on cooperation and efficiency.”
Piece of Mind a Top Measure of Financial Advice
Investors rank security and peace of mind as the top measure of the value of professional financial advice, according to Dimensional Fund Advisors' 2017 Global Investor Feedback Survey. Of the almost 19,000 investors surveyed globally, 35 percent put this as their top answer. “Knowledge of my personal financial situation” ranked second (23 percent), followed by “progress toward my goals” (20 percent) and "investment returns,” with only 14 percent. “When investors work with an advisor who has a holistic understanding of their personal situation and can help them stay focused on their long-term goals, we believe they are better positioned to benefit from what the capital markets have to offer,” said Dave Butler, Dimensional co-CEO and head of global financial advisor services.
Some Advisors Prove Their Worth As Family Coaches
A recent article on Forbes.com highlights the efforts by some advisors to provide money therapy to wealthy families. Wells Fargo advisor Amir Mossanen, for example, counseled parents worried about their youngest son, who had dropped out of USC and separated himself from the family business. Mossanen recommended they let the son continue on his course. He ended up creating Tinder, the popular dating app. Family coaching has provided these advisors with a way to meet the needs of spouses and younger individuals, who will be on the receiving end of the coming wealth transfer. “Gone are the days when asset allocation, investment selection and tax planning--all essentially commodities now--proved an advisor's worth,” Forbes writes.
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