The asset management business of Spain’s Santander has announced an agreement to acquire the asset management operation of BNP Paribas in Mexico.

Santander, the second-largest bank by market value in the Euro zone, said that the deal, which is of an undisclosed value, would allow it to strengthen the institutional investor business which is increasingly emerging as one of its key long-term strategies.

BNP Paribas’ Mexico asset management contains life cycle, debt and white-label funds.

Commenting on the news, Victor Matarranz, Santander's global head of wealth management and insurance, said: "Wealth management and insurance is one of the fastest-growing global businesses for the group, and Mexico is one of our main markets.”

Elsewhere, Santander said that the European Central Bank (ECB) had increased its Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio from 8.91 per cent set at the end of 2022 to 9.6 per cent from 1 January.

Santander was the last of the six Spanish listed banks to disclose its solvency requirements set by the ECB, following declarations from BBVA, Caixabank, Sabadell, and Bankinter earlier this month. The ECB sets the minimum capital requirements for major banks in Spain as part of a supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP).

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