Deutsche Bank v.strategy in 2022 towards customers affluent or middle and upper-middle income, and opted for while promoting a business that combines corporate banking with property banking (wealth management and private banking). Its model is now consolidated and has gained speed in delivering results. “We have grown in customer affluent 6% this year and right now represents a 20% already of our customer base”reveals Susana Valero, head of Private Bank at Deutsche Bank Spain.
With more than 25 years of experience in the banking and asset management industry, Deutsche Bank hired Valero, from UBS, in the midst of launching the strategy to take care of Products and Advisory & Sales in Spain. But last year the group reorganized its businesses on a global scale and entrusted the CEO of the business in Spain, Íñigo Martos, to lead the Private Bank unit in Italy, Spain and Belgium. It was then that Martos delegated responsibility for a division that he directly led at that time to Valero and that constitutes 70% of the bank’s income in Spain -Together, it brought in 500 million euros in the first semester-. The remaining 30% is originated by the investment and corporate banking units.
Valero takes stock publicly for the first time since taking the reins and reveals that today “more than 100,000” of the 500,000 private clients that the entity has in Spain are affluentthat is, with assets of between 50,000 and 500,000 euros, after growing the figure by 6% so far this year. One of the fundraising levers has been its positioning in the remuneration of savings, with deposits greater than 3% in some termsalthough it has been adjusting the APR to the evolution of rates; and thanks also to the “Más DB” account that pays 360 euros for direct debit of payrolls from 2,000 euros and until the end of September it paid 2.75% – today at 2% -.
“In deposits we have captured 1,000 million from the client affluent and of Wealth Management -assets from 2 million euros-“, he explains. It represents an increase of 12% over the balance at the end of 2023, but he points out that it is neither a “depository” client nor has it been prioritized compared to the company’s key and strategic business. asset and wealth management.
“We have all grown significantly in deposits, but we have put a lot of effort into keeping the investment focus alive. This year we have grown in our core product, which is discretionary portfolio management, more than 25%”, precise. This is an activity that is expected to gain prominence in 2025 when the rate reduction limits the possibilities in remuneration of accounts and deposits, and it also indicates that they are finalizing a specific offer in mortgages.
Two areas fall under the Private Bank unit that he directs: personal or individual banking, where the priority focus is on growing the client portfolio. affluent; and Bank for Entrepreneurs, a unit that brings together the business with medium and small companies, along with Wealth (for assets from 2 million) and private banking (between 500,000 and 2 million). Altogether, the unit he leads has some 1,600 employees and a network of 117 offices distributed throughout the country. After the strategic shift in 2022, today it has 50% of the business volume in personal banking and 50% in Bank for Entrepeneurs or banking for entrepreneurs.
The vision when launching the banking for entrepreneurs was to provide a comprehensive service to the entrepreneur and self-employed person with financial needs as an individual and those other corporate needs linked to their business with the ultimate objective of scaling the activity in private banking. “We launched it in 2022 and it is clearly the engine of growth because we have found a way to combine the needs of the company and its owner. From a more business point of view with a more particular point of view and wealth management. Regarding business, it has been a very good year, the driving force being segment of Wealth in which we have grown by double digits”, share. The volume of business in Private Banking and Wealth Management (including financing, savings and investment products) increased 16% between January and September 2024, up to 20,000 million euros.
The bank already provides service to more than 2,000 companies, of which more than 7,000 are SMEs with a turnover of more than 2 million and the rest are smaller. Here your focus is particularly intense on the niche or segment of midcaps -companies with an annual turnover of more than 50 million-. “It is a type of company in which we have focused and in which In the last three years we have grown around 40% and have an 18% market share in this type of companies. We are good and powerful and a large part of our success is due to having had focus and a dedicated team with a high technical component, also having a network of offices that has contacts in different places and having the support of Wealth and private banking,” he says.
The future objective is to grow strongly: “We are firmly committed to continuing to grow in these midcaps and in those more familiar companies that may have that angle with the segment of wealth. We expect to grow in the coming years by double digits in midcaps“he points out.
It rearranges the digital channels and has 18 ‘flagships’
The business line and the subsequent reorganization at the group level have crystallized in a new management structure and reinforcement of divisions, channels and even product units. It has recently incorporated, for example, new managers in the Basque Country or Barcelona for the management team. Wealth Management and Private Banking. A priori, the entity considers the structure completed, without prejudice to incorporating new talent if necessary due to the evolution and growth of the business.
With the new roadmap, it has also reinforced the network of mega offices or flagship which began to be deployed in 2021 and already It has 18 of its 117 branches -The last three were inaugurated this year in Marbella, Hospitalet and Gandía-. “They are one of our levers for this change in strategy,” he emphasizes. They are mega branches, located “in very emblematic centers in provincial capitals”, with more than 1,000 square meters, and where all the business segments are represented “and you see how the business team interacts with the staff team, with the more specialized team. in affluent“We want them to be a kind of community for our clients with common interests and we give them colloquiums, round tables on topics that do not have to be financial, but of common interest,” he adds.
Under his leadership, Deutsche Bank also launched a digital unit that brings together the call center with the digital office, with the app and the website. It seeks to “improve the customer experience” and reinforce the digital offer to promote relationships with customers and attract interested users in any corner of the country, in addition to “making processes more efficient.”
“When I talk about improving my offer, it is my advisory tools, improving them, and making the client also able to be self-sufficient. I am not talking about a roboadvisorbut that my product or warehouse offering is increasingly at the foot of a click,” he says. “Everything is always under the hybrid model where we have offices and flagshipI have my advisors Wealth or private, or my business bankers, but at the same time the client is traveling and can carry out his activity with one click,” he illustrates.
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