¡Felicidades! When Julius Baer arrived in Spain in 2013, taking over the local wealth management business of Merrill Lynch, Julius Baer’s presence was limited to an office in Madrid with a handful of employees. Ten years on, Julius Baer is the leading Swiss wealth manager in the country, present in Madrid and Barcelona with plans to expand further on the peninsula.

The Iberian peninsula is a growing wealth market with its own unique and expert needs. Spain is one of the top-20 countries in the world in terms of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI) according to the 2023 Credit Suisse/UBS Global Wealth Report.

Furthermore, the growth trajectory is forecast to continue on an upward path. According to global real estate consultancy Knight Frank’s annual wealth report the number of UHNWI in Spain is expected to increase by a further 16.8 per cent by 2027. The number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) over the same period is expected to grow by 40 per cent.

This is partially thanks to the country’s growing tech ecosystem, with a relevant number of start-ups consistently reaching the milestone of becoming “unicorns” – early-stage firms valued at or in excess of USD 1 billion. Historical family businesses, family offices, and a growing cohort of female investors also add to the region’s interesting and varied wealth mix.

Distinct needs

With offices in Madrid and Barcelona, Julius Baer caters to clients across Spain and Portugal.

“We have a clear road map of where we want to be in another ten years. We want to be the number one address for Iberian families seeking a private bank,” said Sergio de Miguel, head of the Iberia market.

Iberia is among Julius Baer’s ten most important regions with Chief Executive Officer Philipp Rickenbacher describing the market as “an important area of development, with our offices in Madrid and Barcelona and their outreach to the Portuguese market”.

Since 2013 the number of employees has increased by more than 65 per cent. Over the same, time assets under management have increased three-fold.

Trust, deep expertise, and collaboration

Iberian clients appreciate Julius Baer’s sole focus on wealth management and increasingly value the Bank’s dual local and global expertise and presence that also enrichens the quality and breadth of its services. More and more this mirrors the lives and experiences of clients, as families and companies become increasingly more global while maintaining strong local roots. This requires today’s wealth managers to cater to both local and international needs.

At the same time, what remains unchanged over time is the importance of personal banking relationships.

“Personal relationships are the centre of gravity in wealth management. What we do is based on building a relationship of trust with the client, on a journey together. Otherwise, private banking makes no sense,” explains Carlos Recoder, a Barcelona native, who leads Julius Baer in Western, Northern Europe and Luxembourg.

“It’s all about earning absolute trust, which necessarily involves maintaining a transparent attitude governed by business ethics. Ultimately, the creativity and resilience needed to seize the growth opportunities that arise along the way originate from this relationship of trust between the private bankers and their client. This is not a solo effort, but a collective work of our whole team knowing and understanding our clients’ needs,” Recoder added, whose life-long wealth manager career has spanned from Madrid and London to Geneva and Zurich.

Julius Baer’s varied teams of specialists work together to provide clients with comprehensive and unbiased advice on all aspects of wealth creation, backed by an open product platform. In addition, a focus on the younger generation provides young clients with access to educational events and international business networks and discussions around wealth transfer.

“Julius Baer attracts clients because they are looking for an international wealth manager that offers a high-quality, global service and anticipates their demands and needs,” says Recoder.

Further underlining this global and cross-continental growth dynamic, Julius Baer’s Iberia business will be combined with the Americas region from 2024, under the leadership of Carlos Recoder, who will also join the Julius Baer Executive Board in the new year.

FOCUS – SCALE – INNOVATE and the future

Julius Baer recognises that the wealth management industry is entering a new era, characterised by fast-paced changes in client needs, industry structure, business model economics, and the role of technology. The Bank’s 2023–2025 strategic cycle, FOCUS –SCALE–INNOVATE, reflects these changes while underlining that personal and human connections have to remain at the heart of all the measures to be taken to prepare the Bank for this new era of wealth management.

Innovation plays a key role for Julius Baer and for a long time has followed three strategic priorities: building a highly scalable back-end to support the Bank in its growth ambitions, creating operating leverage in the Bank’s business model by offering the best technology support to Relationship Managers and staff, and digitally enabling clients to ensure state-of-the art delivery of the Bank’s value proposition – in Iberia and beyond.

The past decade in Iberia has flown by. Cheers to the next ten and to similar success! Salud!