Bankinter expects to increase its assets under management in investment funds by 20% this year
Miguel Artola, the new manager of Bankinter's asset management company Bankinter Gestión de Activos, presented his outlook for the funds market and the growth targets for the asset management company.
Of Spain's ten biggest fund managers, Bankinter Gestión de Activos was the one that grew most in 2013.
Bankinter Gestión de Activos anticipates that 2014 will be another successful year for investment funds, which will continue to be one of the products most sought after by customers. Thus the company expects to increase the volume of assets under management during the year by 20% compared with 2013, which was one of the most outstanding years in recent times as regards both new business and profitability.
Assets managed by Bankinter Gestión de Activos in investment funds stood at €5,998.8 million at the end of 2013, reflecting an increase of 67.3% relative to December 2012, the biggest growth of any of the top ten Spanish asset managers for the year.
By type of funds, we would highlight the growth in fixed income funds, which rose by 270%, followed by equity funds with growth of 76.6% for the year.
During 2013 Bankinter launched a total of 13 guaranteed funds: six equity funds and seven fixed income funds, this latter category being the one that attracted greater interest among more conservative investors. The guaranteed funds category represented 19.2% of total assets sold by Bankinter in 2013.
As far as SICAVs are concerned, at year-end the Bank was placed third in the Inverco ranking by number of companies managed, which reached 293, reflecting an increase of 14% compared with 2012. Assets under management grew by 28.9% during the year. The company, which has a market share of 10% in this segment, expects to continue growing at a similar pace in 2014.
According to the latest ranking published by VDOS Stochastics, Bankinter is the asset manager with the best overall profitability in both investment funds and pension funds (placing first in all categories), as well as in SICAVs, where from among the 15 most profitable asset managers it is the one with the greatest number of schemes.
All these data, along with the 2014 growth estimate for investment funds, were analysed this morning during a breakfast briefing at which the company introduced the new manager of Gestión de Activos, Miguel Artola.
Artola was appointed manager of Bankinter Gestión de Activos in November 2013, replacing Javier Bollaín, who, at that same time, was placed in charge of Mercavalor, the securities company acquired by the Bankinter Group.
Miguel Artola joined Bankinter in 2000 and has occupied various positions, including that of investment manager for international equity markets, derivatives and credit in the Treasury and Capital Markets Department. In June 2011 he moved to Bankinter Gestión de Activos as investment manager, with responsibility for the company's investments on behalf of investment funds, pension funds and SICAVs.
Miguel Artola holds a degree in Mathematics and Economic Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid. He also has a doctorate in mathematics from Princeton University, U.S.A. and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).