IN a city of global high finance structures, a city with a heart that literally beats to the rhythm of exchange fluctuations and big money transactions, pumping billions through its countless financial networks and institutions each day, the thought of a bank from Spain muscling in the market might surprise some.
But muscling in is just what Santander Investment intends to do and the leading financial group in Spain, ranked 51st in the world in terms of assets, is not short of the muscle to do it.
Already, with just two years in Hong Kong, Santander has expanded, with bases in Singapore, Manila, Sydney, Taipei, Beijing and Shanghai.
'Our strategy is to have a fully-fledged investment bank set up within five years,' said Santander's Asia regional manager and managing director, Ho Teck-cheong.
'We realise that it takes time to build up a team and a network, which is why we have decided not to try to do everything initially and put the wrong image to the market.
'In Hong Kong, we have started with structured finance and risk management and, over time, with a bigger team, we will go into other services.' 'The principal benefit,' added Hong Kong's country manager and managing director, Joseph Lai, 'of being a part of our institution is that we have the resources as well as the solutions.
