Spanish bank Santander said it aims to be among the top five private bankers in Italy, with €4.9 billion ($7.1 billion) of funds under management by 2011. Speaking at a press presentation yesterday, Stefano Boccadoro, chief executive Santander Private Banking Italia, said the potential market was "over €870 billion of financial and real estate assets, owned by 728,000 families". "Santander," he said, "will concentrate on high net worth individuals, with €500,000 to $5 million." The Spanish bank aims to offer bespoke rather than standardised products and will employ a technical expert in order to provide a range of investments in addition to in-house offerings, reported Reuters. Mr Boccadoro said Italian clients in private banking tended towards low-risk profiles compared with other countries. The announcement comes despite Santander's disposal of Italian lender Antonveneta to Monte dei Paschi di Siena last year for $13.2 billion shortly after its acquisition. It also sold its stake in Sanpaolo IMI when the bank merged into Intesa Sanpaolo. Last week, chairman Emilio Botin said Santander only had two stakes left in Italy – less than 2 per cent in both Generali and Mediobanca – and was "very satisfied" with them.