Mathieu Ferragut has been appointed as the new head of Crédit Agricole Private Banking Américas, a position which he will carry out from the offices of the French bank in Miami, as he himself explained in an interview with Funds Society.
The Crédit Agricole private bank, present in Latin America for over 30 years, is a boutique business, as Ferragut himself describes it; he goes on to add that they have a great advantage because they have the backup of Crédit Agricole, which is the world’s fourth largest bank in terms of assets, but of medium-size within the private banking business, giving them a lot of flexibility, which doesn’t mean that it is not an aggressive bank with the same nerve as the big market players. “We have the best of both worlds”.
Ferragut assumes this position after the management of the French company decided to go for further regionalization of business. Crédit Agricole has a strong network of international private banks They have a bank in Brazil, they have a presence in Uruguay, in Switzerland they are the third largest foreign bank, they stand as the leading bank in Monaco and the second largest foreign bank in Luxembourg, plus they are present in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Spain and Italy.
The management in Paris has chosen Ferragut, a man from within company ranks, to manage the private banking business in the Americas.
To date, Ferragut worked as general manager of Crédit Agricole in Miami, a position he held since 2008. Previously, and also within the bank, he was second regional deputy general manager and chief operating officer for private banking in Asia from Singapore, where he lived for five years.
Ferragut, with over 15 years of industry experience, through his time spent in both Singapore and Miami has acquired great knowledge of Asian and Latin American markets, which are actually, “the bank’s two priorities”.
The manager has a Commerce MBA from France and a postgraduate degree in Finance and Markets, which was also completed in France.
As for his vision of the private banking industry, Ferragut believes that it’s currently a good moment for the sector, which is developing strongly and with many opportunities. “There are many players, but there is room for everyone”.
In the case of Latin America, he believes that private banking is covered by U.S. and European banks, so there is plenty of room for local banks, in a region undoubtedly considered to be the best emerging market at the moment.
Finally and regarding how he is facing his new stage, the executive said he expects the business to grow in a strong way, with at least 15% increase in annual turnover. The growth will come primarily from the organic side, with the possibility of external growth if the opportunities come along.
“We don’t want to become a giant, we would like very selected, and controlled, quality growth”. The business will primarily focus on Brazil, Mexico and the Andean Group.
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