News

• Through the agreement, Banca March will raise awareness among members of its financial products and services, as well as offering information on access to financing and organising training events to help enhance the growth of family businesses in Andalucía.
• The purpose of the agreement is two-fold: boost the bank's name in the family business segment in Andalucía, Ceuta and Melilla, and liaise between the Asociación Andaluza de la Empresa Familiar and Banca March.
• Turnover for Banca March in Andalucía grew 14% in 2021, AUM 30% and the number of Private Banking customers 21%. In February this year, turnover in the region had reached 1.35bn euros.

Carlos Carrasco, Director of the Andalucía area at Banca March, said: “Andalucía is one of the economic drivers in the country and a key part of our development plan. Banca March wants to continue to back this huge local economic potential by offering individuals and companies, with a special focus on family businesses and business-owning families, our leadership in capital ratios, responsible advice, service quality and advisory technology, with the best-trained professionals in the Spanish financial sector. As a bank which is wholly family-owned, we understand and share the interests and concerns of family businesses, which are the real drivers of the country's economy”.

José Luis Martínez Lázaro, recently re-elected as Chairman of the AAEF at the General Assembly held on the 9th, used the occasion of the Agreement signing to thank Banca March for its support for AAEF members: “We are thrilled to have the support of Banca March, a family business coming up to a century in operation, with its range of value-added financial products and access to favourable financing conditions, not to mention training actions that help overcome the challenges that business-owning families face when it comes to developing their business and its continuity”.

According to the Chairman of the AAEF: “No one can deny the important role that family businesses play. Eighty-nine percent of Spanish businesses are family-run. We account for 67% of employment with almost seven million jobs and we represent 57% of the private sector's GDP. Our outlook therefore plays a key role in understanding the changes that have taken place in the corporate context and the possible solutions to drive recovery and growth in the coming years. A recent EY study in collaboration with IE University revealed that family businesses invest 66% more in innovation than non-family businesses, which means that over time the former accumulates 56% more R&D stock than the latter. Innovation management is also 23% or 16% more efficient than non-family businesses (patents or product innovation respectively), with a 38% higher rate of return on innovation in family businesses than non-family businesses".