Investment funds closed 2019 with net subscriptions of almost 1,700 million euros. Surprisingly, , the fourth by assets under management, which obtained subscriptions for 1,500 million. Its share in funds, 7.05%, is, for Ignacio Ezquiaga, corporate director of private banking and asset management, “still below what would be natural for us.”
What was the key for Bankia Fondos to capture 1,500 million in a bad year for the industry?
The client wants things very easy and, first of all, we have managed to offer him a very simple delegated portfolio management service, Bankia Gestión Experta. Of the 1,900 million captured by Bankia as a whole, 1,200 correspond to Bankia Gestión Experta. Secondly, we have broadened the spectrum of private banking, lowering the threshold from which we offer this service to 500,000 euros (although these are not mathematical thresholds). Of the 1,900 million, 380 million (21%) are private banks. We have also changed the relationship between private banking and the commercial network, now it is more collaborative. And thirdly, we have had a very good year in returns; we position ourselves above our competitors in a good number of products and, on average, in all of them.
Your share of funds is close to the goal you set for yourself in 2020, are you going to review it?
More than revising the objective, we have advanced the arrival date a little. We are nine to six months ahead of target. At the end of the year, we will release a new strategic plan and there will be a new higher one. We believe that the 7.05% that we have reached in funds is still below what would be natural for us.
What returns did Bankia Gestión Experta achieve in 2019?
The Tranquil portfolio achieved 5.49%, the Balanced portfolio 10.62%; the Growing, 15.74% and the Advanced, 19.42%. Whenever you are going to see a return, it is convenient to put volatility to the side. And we always have relatively small volatilities for each profile.
The “Balanced” portfolio grew more than the “Calm” portfolio despite the conservative profile of the Spanish…
It’s kind of interesting. We have detected that, in delegated management, the investment profiles are more consistent with the suitability test profile. The client is calmer by not having to be on top of their investment. He knows that he has delegated it and that leads him to look for a more coherent profile with his time horizon. The fight in Spain will always be the time horizon: it will be very difficult for customers to understand what we are asking them when we ask them about that horizon, because they believe that we want to catch them for as long as possible, and that is why they answer very quickly. term.
“People are realizing that saving on deposits isn’t going anywhere”
What deposit to fund conversion rate do you handle?
It is difficult to give a rate, but people are realizing that they are not going anywhere saving in deposits, because the return is zero or, even, if they are large assets, negative, which has accelerated the conversion to funds.
What products will they reinforce in 2020?
We want to improve Bankia Gestión Experta. And at the product level, consolidate those that we have released. The most important have been income; the Bankia Mixto Dividendos and the Bankia Cauto Dividendos, with moderate volatility levels, which offer a fixed dividend (the mixed gave a 3% dividend and this year it will give the same, apart from the revaluation it achieves, and the cautious one 1%). There is a lot of demand for PAYG funds. We will do something else along the lines of looking for substitutes for the guaranteed ones.
“The added value that we give to clients comes from global management, geographic distribution, asset allocation…”
What part of your offer is made up of products from other managers?
Of the 1,900 captured this year, some 380 million are_(around 18.5%). We have two scopes with open architecture. One is private banking, and the other is intermediation, the execution-only one, where we also have no custody fees on the web or online banking.
Have you already sent the letter informing your customers of the costs?
The letters will go out this quarter.
What importance does the manager give to passive management?
For us it is a raw material. We believe that the added value we give clients comes from global management, geographic distribution, asset allocation… What we don’t see is that it is advisable to invest in index funds themselves.
As happened in Sabadell, is the possibility of a sale of the manager on the table?
It is not a question for me to answer. But what I do know is that for Bankia, asset management is, as it is for many entities, strategic, because an important part of the added value that you give your customers comes from there, and if you have that outsourced… it is delicate. Now it is not contemplated at all.
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