Banca March appoints José Cuevas head of the Wealth Management Area
22 December 2021 Category: Banca March
José Cuevas, who has a degree in business administration and post-graduate qualifications from Madrid's IESE business school and Harvard Business School.
- Against one of the most challenging market backdrops in history, the business volume of the bank's HNWI unit, for customers with assets of over two million euros, stood at 11 billion euros in June 2021, up 18.32% versus June 2020 with a 15.42% increase in customer numbers.
- Banca March, Spain's only wholly-owned family bank, has built a unique, advisory-based business model and boasts the strongest capital adequacy levels in the Spanish financial system, underpinned by outstanding professionals trained through the Banca March Talent Programme, growing technology use, unparalleled products such as co-investment and a sector-leading position in customer service quality ratings.
- Luis Ordóñez, currently Director of the Capital Markets and Syndicated Finance Unit, is expanding his functions to head up the territorial Large Companies units which were previously overseen by José Cuevas, delivering technical expertise and strong specialisation in Capital Markets to the commercial service.
Banca March has appointed Deputy Assistant Managing Director José Cuevas as head of Wealth Management, the business unit serving customers with assets of over two million euros. Previously, José Cuevas was Head of the Large Companies Area. He will be replacing José Luis Santos, who is taking early retirement for personal reasons, having held the role since late 2016.
José Cuevas, who has a degree in business administration and post-graduate qualifications from Madrid's IESE business school and Harvard Business School, has spent the majority of his career at Banca March. He has managed the Territorial Departments for Large Companies, overseeing units performing commercial functions and relations with companies with revenues of over 40 million euros, contributing to the growth and consolidation of Banca March's unique corporate banking model, which is focused on advisory services for companies, family businesses and business-owning families, specialising particularly in alternative financing, direct lending, customised treasury solutions and risk hedging.
Luis Ordóñez, currently Director of the Capital Markets and Syndicated Finance Unit, is expanding his functions to head up the territorial Large Companies units which were previously overseen by José Cuevas, delivering technical expertise and strong specialisation in Capital Markets to the commercial service.
Banca March boasts the strongest fundamentals in the market, with robust capital adequacy, NPL, liquidity and coverage ratios affording protection for customer assets. Banca March continues to boast the lowest NPL ratio in the Spanish financial sector (1.62%, versus a sector average of 4.4%) and among the strongest capital adequacy (18.37%), LCR (233.0%), DTL (137.8%) and NPL coverage ratios in the banking system, as at June 2021. However, capital adequacy is not all that matters; it is also important to consider total shareholders' equity, which in Banca March's case stands at over 2 billion euros.
A unique advisory model with the strongest solvency in the sector
The advisory business model developed by Banca March's Wealth Management unit affords comprehensive wealth and tax advisory services to meet its customers' changing needs throughout the various stages of their lives. Against one of the most challenging market backdrops in living memory, the business volume of the bank's HNWI unit, for customers with assets of over two million euros, stood at 11 billion euros in June 2021, up 18.32% versus June 2020 with a 15.42% increase in customer numbers as growing numbers of savers and investors place their trust in Banca March.
Banca March, Spain's only wholly-owned family bank, has built a unique business model and boasts the strongest capital adequacy levels in the Spanish financial system, underpinned by outstanding professionals trained through the Banca March Talent Programme, growing technology use to enhance business operations, unparalleled products such as co-investment and a sector-leading position in customer service quality ratings.
Banca March CEO José Luis Acea said: “What has always set Banca March apart from the rest is our unique business model, which supports talent development based on a meritocracy and internal and external salary equity, where professionals forge a career based on their achievements and their alignment with the corporate culture. A total of 12% of the workforce came through the bank's Talent Programme, which recruits young professionals and trains them as future executives for the institution. Banca March remains unaffected by the movements and appointments underway in the wealth management sector, which involves a range of EAFIs and securities firms seeking buyers for projects which have recruited professionals from other institutions. In this fiercely competitive sector, Banca March remains committed to an unparalleled business model which is fully aligned with its unique, century-old philosophy of shared growth and a long-term outlook for customers and employees alike, driven by the determination and vision of its shareholders.”
As part of its value proposition, Banca March offers discretionary portfolio management products; the returns offered by these portfolios in 2021 clearly reflected the bank's successful strategies across all risk profiles: Conservative DOM (+3.53%), Moderate DPM (+7.34%), Adventurous DPM (+12.29%) and Equity DPM (+14.61%). The Next Generation DPM, an equity strategy investing in future megatrends, also outperformed, returning 16.73%. Thematic funds, which are a speciality at the Banca March Group's fund management business, March Asset Management, also outperformed in 2021. At the helm was Mediterranean Fund, which is closely linked to the environment as it invests in companies with exposure to the water economy, with YTD returns of 22.25%. Vini Catena, which invests in companies in the wine value chain, has returned 16.27% year to date, and March Family Business Fund, which invests in listed family businesses worldwide, chalked up returns of 15.10%.
Banca March is the only Spanish bank in the ranking of Europe's best workplaces published by the global consultancy Great Place To Work® in September. Last January, Banca March was certified as a Great Place to Work for the second year running in recognition both of the bank's people management and the excellence and outstanding performance of its team. In April, the bank was included for the first time in the Best Workplaces (GPTW) ranking as one of the ten best companies to work for in Spain, and was the only Spanish bank to make it on to the list. The bank has also been ranked as a Top Employer for three years running, in 2019, 2020 and 2021, thanks to the employment conditions it offers its team.
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