Carmen Alonso will become the new global CEO of Santander Asset Management starting in July

Carmen Alonso will become the new global CEO of Santander Asset Management, the firm that manages the financial institution's investment funds worldwide, starting in July of this year. She replaces Samantha Ricciardi, who joined Fidelity late last year as head of the U.S. asset manager's business for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, making her the second woman to assume this top-level position. She is also the third global executive at Santander AM in five years, following Argentine Mariano Belinky, who held the role from 2018 to 2021.

The firm thus concludes an interim period during which Miguel Ángel Sánchez Lozano, the firm's head of global distribution, served in the role on a temporary basis.

Alonso has a long career in asset management, particularly in the alternative products segment, having begun her career in 1996 at firms involved in corporate finance, such as UBS, Merrill Lynch, HBV, Morgan Stanley, and GSK. Over the past decade, she has been associated with the French asset manager Tikehau Capital, where she rose to become head of business for Iberia and the United Kingdom. In September 2024, she was hired by Patria Investments as a partner and CEO of the firm for Europe and the Middle East.

It is no coincidence that the profile of the new head of Santander's fund management firm features this extensive background in the world of alternative investments, at a time when all investment firms are seeking to expand this business segment--which in Spain still has a limited reach but in other countries carries greater weight in client portfolios, and not just those of institutional investors--since it allows for higher profit margins than traditional funds.

Global Asset Manager

Santander Asset Management already manages E275 billion globally. But while most of this comes from Spain, where it holds a 14.5% market share according to Inverco data, the firm also has a significant presence in markets such as Mexico and Brazil.

With the hiring of Alonso, the asset management arm of the bank chaired by Ana Botín is embarking on a new phase, following the appointment in mid-last year of Javier García-Carranza as global head of the Wealth Management & Insurance division.

Expanding synergies among the group's various local asset managers and reducing costs are the firm's objectives. It has made the shift in the private banking model its top priority, focusing on explicitly charging for financial advice--with a greater emphasis on services rather than products--at a time of expanding passive management. Alternative assets play a prominent role in this framework.