The private banking division of the Spanish group Santander is focused on clients with investable assets of €1-10 million ($1.3-13 million) and had €38 billion under management at the end of 2006, up 31 per cent on 2005; the bank hopes to increase it by 17 per cent in 2007. But according to chief executive Alberto Ridaura and managing director Iñigo Gallastegui at a press conference in Madrid, Santander still has much to do in this market, since of the approximately 265,000 people in Spain who have wealth of that order, the bank currently has under ten per cent as clients. Of these clients, about 16,000 are families, with an average wealth of €2.4 million and a high degree of involvement with Santander, since they have been with the bank - not necessarily exclusively - for 18 years and with 9 products on average, according to the bank’s own data. Mr Ridaura said that products that invest in art, especially in paintings and sculpture, are in preparation, although they do not yet know exactly how they will be structured. The private banking division of Santander competes in the market with Banif, which is also owned by Santander; the Spanish commercial network it forms with Banesto was given as the reason why, at the moment, there are no plans for a merger.