With 15 years of experience in private banking at Bankinter, Fernando Colás is since 2015 Commercial Director Network of Financial Agents and Eafis Bankinter Spain. Born in Calatayud, he graduated in Law from the University of Zaragoza and is an expert in Expert in Taxation and banking management.
Colás holds a master’s degree in Occupational Risk Prevention and HR from the Madrid Association of Sociologists and Political Scientists, a master’s degree in Banking Management from the Kühnel Business School and a level III financial advisory degree from the TechRules School of Finance. He also did the Leaders for the Future 2012-2013 program, in Business Leadership and the Management Development Program, Expert in Management Competencies, by the University of Deusto.
What does a commercial director of the Financial Agents Network and Eafis Bankinter Spain do?
We focus on clients with assets of more than one million euros. For this I have a large team of professionals throughout Spain, a total of 354 financial agents who are dedicated to managing these assets. In particular, they accompany clients throughout their lives, helping them with their savings, helping them to make investments, etc.
Do you do this from Aragon?
There are teams all over Spain. I am in Madrid because Bankinter’s headquarters are in Madrid. I live between Madrid and Zaragoza, because my home is there.
When we talk about assets of more than 1 million euros, do we only refer to cash?
Yes, cash; it is private banking. Everyone has a cash over one million euros. Real estate also brings a lot of profitability, but it is cash.
How many clients do you manage from private banking at Bankinter?
More than 47,000 million euros.
What professional profiles work in the network?
Businessmen or liberal professionals from all provinces, fundamentally. The network of Bankinter agents in Aragón in particular is important. In Aragón we have some of the best banking professionals in Spain, who have been managers in other entities. The fundamental part of my job is to look for talent, I hire financial agents, I look for the best. I have knowledge of the bankers throughout Spain, I travel a lot and the level of bankers in Aragon is brutal.
Is this due to the training provided here?
It is due to the training and to the fact that it is a very banked place. Competition makes everyone better.
Nothing to envy to other places?
Not at all. Other colleagues such as Juan Manuel Cendoya (Vice President of Santander Spain and General Director of Communication and Corporate Marketing at Santander), Antonio Berdiel (territorial director of the bank in the Valencian Community, Region of Murcia and the Balearic Islands) and Carlos Aso (CEO of AndBank in Spain) are also from Aragon. There are many Aragonese people much more valid than me in the banking sector.
There are many very valid Aragonese people in all sectors.
We have some very good businessmen and in Aragon itself they are not recognized. When you go abroad and talk about a company and say that it is from Aragon, they are very surprised that it is not as recognized here as it is abroad. I don’t know why that is. We have tremendous businessmen, entrepreneurs and professionals.
And from the professionals to the clients. Are there big fortunes concentrated in Aragon?
There we have our share proportional to the place. In the capitals there are usually more, but you cannot generalize because in some smaller towns there are private banking clients. It is also true that most of these capitals have gone to live in larger cities.
What are the current investment trends?
More than knowing what trends there are in the investment world, which are becoming more and more infinite, we have to identify the needs of our clients. Our clients are experts in their professions and you can’t be an expert in everything, so you need them to help you. Our fundamental mission is to make tailor-made suits for our clients; each case is different, it depends on the family situation, if they have children, their age, their goals in life… each one has its peculiarities. For example, some people like risk, others do not like to take any risk… two people with the same assets do not have the same needs and make totally different requests. We have to adapt to what they need and what they want. What we really manage are clients and people, not money. What we really manage is people.
You mentioned age, who is your youngest client?
The truth is that our client… is not usually young. They are usually older people who have been working in their profession for many years, who have raised a family and who have had time to save. Having said that, we have clients who are artists, sportsmen… especially in the sportsmen we do have young people. In these cases we do have to plan very differently from a 70-year-old businessman who has his company and can sell it, to a sportsman or a successful 25-year-old soccer player whose professional life is going to end soon, and we have to accommodate his situation so that with the income he has now, we can arrange his situation for the rest of his life.
How is savings evolving with covid?
At the beginning of the pandemic there was quite a significant drop in the market, which required us to be very close to our clients to manage this moment of crisis. It is true that during the period there was a lot of savings and now we have to manage all these savings. At the same time, we have had to be close to the companies to help them in all these particularly difficult times.
What about now?
We have had some frankly good months in the market. The economy is now a global economy, you cannot focus on a single Spanish autonomy, we work with global investment alternatives. Growth from a market point of view is global.
How has private banking integrated technology?
Bankinter is a very technological bank and we have applied it to the world of private banking from the beginning. Being a very digital bank has allowed us, despite the pandemic, to have a great relationship with our clients. We have had the system in place for many years. All companies, financial and non-financial, are involved in the digitization process.
What is the next step for private banking?
To be more professional and efficient. Our professionals are more and more prepared, the regulation demands more and more training and better tools. To build a portfolio, it is necessary to have more information and this requires more investment in tools and professionals. It requires a continuous recycling process. As a client, right now on the Internet you have comparators and the professionals in this sector have to have more information than those comparators and also certificates to guarantee the quality of the service.
Can the processes of optimization and regularization of banking employment affect this segment where a very personalized attention is required?
The world of private banking is smaller in terms of people and volume of clients, clients who also do not like to have their advisors changed. In general, private banking is not being affected by these processes, but it is true that the sector is less affected because it is narrower.
A restaurant to enjoy in Aragon?
Lillas Pastia
A cultural weekend plan
Visit the museums of Zaragoza. Everyone should spend and invest time in the Diocesan Museum (Alma Mater) and the Roman Route. The Castle of Calatayud is a must.
A company you value
Bankinter
An Aragonese who inspires you.
Peter Lozano is out of this world. I like everything he does and his vision of life.
