The firm sees Spain as offering a great opportunity for serving both wholesale and advisor clients as it is one of the largest investment management markets in Europe.

Vanguard, the US-based fund management giant with $10.4 trillion in AuM as at the end of 2024, has appointed Pablo Bernal as country head for Spain, underscoring the firm’s commitment to the Spanish market.

Bernal (pictured), who joined Vanguard in Mexico in 2017, was most recently the head of intermediary sales for Latin America. Prior to Vanguard, Bernal was with Sherpa Capital, BlackRock and Deloitte.

He has relocated to Vanguard’s European headquarters in London, from where he will initially serve the Spanish market, reporting to Simone Rosti, head of Italy and Southern Europe.

“Spain offers a great opportunity of serving both wholesale and advisor clients, as well as those clients serving self-directed investors. We believe that Vanguard’s time-tested, 50-year-old investment principles will resonate well with Spanish investors and give them the best chance of investment success,"  Robyn Laidlaw, head of distribution Europe for Vanguard, said.

Spain, a large investment management markets in Europe, has relatively low penetration of indexing and exchange-traded funds. Vanguard says it is well placed as an active and passive fund house to help investors understand low-cost index funds and ETFs.

Earlier this year, Vanguard appointed Alvaro Hermoso Ferreiro as sales executive responsible for supporting clients in Spain. Ferreiro will report to Bernal.