In the battle for the wealthy, Santander is boosting its family office in Brazil.

In an increasingly competitive market, where independent firms are gaining ground in managing large fortunes and incumbent banks are strengthening their structures to avoid losing ground in a rapidly growing segment, Santander has been placing the family office model at the center of its wealth management strategy.

Globally, the Spanish bank launched the operation under the Beyond Wealth brand and, in less than a year, already has over US$6 billion under management. Now, in Brazil, the next step is to transform the family office into an operation that also functions as a wealth management firm, with discretionary management capabilities.

The change allows for scaling up service and expanding the target audience: the service, currently restricted to tickets above R$ 100 million, will now serve families starting from R$ 10 million. With this, the area, which currently serves 25 families, aims to double in size and reach 50 clients by the end of 2026.

"In a short time, the operation had a great impact where we are positioned: Spain, Brazil, Miami and Switzerland," says Vitor Ohtsuki, managing partner of Santander Private Banking, in an interview with Wealth Point, a NeoFeed program.

According to the executive, the proposal is not to create a mass-market family office, but to serve sophisticated clients seeking investment consolidation and a unified portfolio strategy.

Santander's advance comes at a time when the multi-family office model – and consequently, multi-custody of investments – is gaining ground in the Brazilian wealth management market. This segment already represents about 20% of the total, equivalent to approximately R$ 600 billion, according to Ohtsuki.

Until recently, this market had been growing more in the wake of independent firms, such as G5 Partners , TAG Investimentos , Turim , and Portofino MFO . In addition to this movement, investment advisory firms have launched their family offices and are experiencing strong growth, as is the case with Faros . Other companies are entering this business , such as Apex .

For this reason, incumbent banks also want to capture this trend. BTG, for example, bought Julius Baer last year and grew its division, now holding over R$100 billion. UBS has invested in its UBS Consenso operation, which already accounts for nearly half of the group's total wealth management in Brazil. And Itaú is implementing a consulting model to consolidate clients' assets, in an exclusive partnership with Addepar , a global technology company.

Independent firms often criticize banks entering this segment, arguing that it's impossible to maintain a completely unbiased relationship with the client when the institution also sells its own products. Ohtsuki refutes this criticism.

“The model is multi-custody; I don’t want him to retrieve funds from other institutions to bring custody here. But I charge for overseeing everything. And, as a global bank, we can achieve what independent banks can’t, such as high investment in cybersecurity and a large international reach,” says the managing partner of Santander Private Banking.

The growth of family offices is directly related to clients' greater understanding of compensation models in the financial industry. The fee-based model, in which the client pays a fixed fee or an agreed percentage of their assets, is gaining ground in Brazil. Santander's private banking service will also soon offer this option.

“The family office model isn’t for everyone; it’s a discretionary model. For clients who like to be very involved in decisions, discuss the market, or only have one or two banks, it doesn’t make as much sense,” says Ohtsuki.

Transformation of the private sector

While the family office is Santander's newest venture, its Brazilian private banking arm, the third largest in the country, has undergone a restructuring in recent years, focusing on regional reach and the ultra-high net worth segment (above R$100 million).

“In 2021, we decided to restructure. Since then, we have made a significant investment in technology, people, and a wider product range, focusing on the ultra-high-end segment,” says Ohtsuki.

In recent years, Santander Private has been reaping the rewards of this restructuring. By 2025, it had grown by 16%, reaching R$ 300 billion under custody, including onshore and offshore assets . The intention is to maintain this pace.

This year, Santander approved the hiring of 25 more bankers, 17 of whom are already with the bank, to expand regional services and services outside the Southeast region.

In the South, Santander has representatives in Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, and Londrina. Service in the Central-West region is centralized in Brasília, serving as a hub for the entire region. And in the Northeast, it is present in Fortaleza, Recife, and Salvador. The North has branches in Belém and Manaus.

“Customers value a local presence, and since we understood and invested in that, growth has followed. We have doubled the size of our operation in the last five years,” says Ohtsuki.

According to Ohtsuki, one of the distinguishing features of Private Banking is its global presence, as Santander operates in several countries. Today, Santander has the largest Private Banking operation in Latin America, according to data from the bank itself, with Brazil contributing US$10 billion.

Brazilian banks are also investing in having a robust offshore operation. Itaú, for example, has been growing its operations in the US and Switzerland.

In 2019, Bradesco acquired BAC Florida, a fully licensed bank , and has been growing its offshore presence in the United States, as has BTG Pactual, which completed the acquisition of MY Safra Bank in January 2026. This allowed it to operate with a full banking license in the American market.