REUTERS SUMMIT-Santander eyes Latam migrant wealth in U.S. push

(For other news from the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit (LSE: SUMM.L - news) , click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/Wealth14)

By Sarah White

GENEVA, June 18 (Reuters) - Spain's Santander is looking to tap a $140 billion pool of assets held by newly-arrived U.S. immigrants as it grows its private bank, a top executive said, adding the unit aimed to double its funds under management globally in coming years.

Recent immigrants to the United States, particularly Latin American entrepreneurs, are a growing market for local wealth managers and potential new entrants such as Santander, according to Alvaro Morales, head of the lender's international private banking arm.

"We see a lot of opportunities in the domestic U.S. market," Morales told the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Geneva.

"What we are seeing is that a lot of Mexican or Venezuelan clients who are sending their kids to U.S. universities, then their wives move (there), then (they) move for the weekends. And at the end they become U.S. tax residents."

Santander's private bank, which is present in the United States but serves non-resident clients there, is considering opening a branch geared towards new U.S. tax residents, Morales said.

He put assets up for grabs from potential clients who had arrived in the United States in the past few years at about $140 billion, adding that pool would in future be "huge".

U.S wealth managers are also eyeing this market, though Santander hopes to capitalise on its Latin American franchise to win over new customers. The Spanish bank as a whole makes roughly half of its profit in Latin America, where Brazil is its single biggest market.

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"It's people that have just come to the United States in the last two to three years and they are still more Latin American than American," said Morales, who is based in Miami, adding Santander would have less of a chance of cracking the U.S wealth management market if it was targeting "Mr Smith."

Santander is also making a push to grow its broader business in the United States, including through its retail banking unit based in the northeast of the country. Earlier this year the bank also listed its U.S. consumer financer business, Santander Consumer USA, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Santander's private bank globally ended 2013 with about $190 billion of assets under management, which it wants to double over the next few years.

Outside the United States the private bank primarily wants to grow in its existing markets, Morales said. The unit is present in Switzerland and has several U.S centres, but does not operate in major wealth hubs such as Asia or the Middle East and has no plans to move there for now, he added.

"If we see any opportunity in the future that could be adapted to our model, why not?" Morales said, referring to potential acquisitions, though he stressed purchases were not a core part of the private bank's strategy. "We want to grow in an organic way," he said. (Additional reporting by Joshua Franklin; Editing by David Holmes; Follow Reuters Summits on Twitter (Berlin: TWR.BE - news) @Reuters_Summits)