Founded in 1952 by Bonaventura Mora, the BIBM business group is today made up of Banc Internacional d’Andorra, Banca Mora, the asset manager BIBM Gestió d’Actius and BIBM Assegurances (life and health insurance), AP insurance and Mora Wealth Management, independent wealth managers in Zurich and Miami.
“Andorra is an independent country with more than 700 years of history and a strong banking tradition. Three generations of the Mora family have been running the banking group within this context, managing it with thoroughness, enthusiasm and a mission to serve”, declares Francesc Mora Sagués, who became the new chairman of Banc Internacional d’Andorra, holding company of the financial group, on 28 April 2010.
With Assets under Management of Ä6.608m on 31 December 2009, profits of Ä50.1m and 277 employees, Banc Internacional Banca Mora is the second largest financial group in Andorra.
It has, in the last financial year, achieved a rate of return on equity of 20.5 percent, a Tier 1 ratio of 21.2 percent, a liquidity ratio of 101.6 percent and an efficiency ratio, including repayments, of 31.3 percent. These ratios, together with renewal of the ratings A2 long-term, P-1 short-term and C+ financial strength by Moody’s, and with stable prospects, clearly confirm the Andorran financial group’s strength and solvency.
Private banking
From the start, the BIBM group has maintained a strong tradition in the field of private banking, concentrating on client wealth preservation. BIBM’s private banking has been built on the cornerstones of conversation privacy, professional and expert advice, transparency, high standards and continual improvements in client service.
For Jordi Mora Magriñà, appointed chairman of Banca Mora on 28 April 2010, “the fact that we are pioneers in this country in attaining the ISO 9001 certificate for our work in investment fund design and marketing, structured financial products and client services in Personal and Private Banking, obtained in 1996 and renewed annually since, is a clear sign of the group’s soundness”.
BIBM is also Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) certified for investment fund management as well as wealth management, demonstrating that the group offers a very high degree of additional transparency for comparing and evaluating investments.
International expansion
One of BIBM’s major challenges for the future is international expansion, which set off to a strong start in 2009 with the creation of Mora Wealth Management (MWM) in Zurich, Switzerland. In July of the same year, the group acquired 95 percent of the wealth manager PRS Latam Llc, based in Miami, USA, which it converted into Mora Wealth Management Miami.
“This expansion”, adds Francesc Mora, “enables the financial group and affiliates of MWM to offer an exclusive wealth management service to our most demanding clients. At BIBM, we have a highly professional team and specialists in specific areas”. BIBM provides this assessment on a global, professional and personal basis, and can suggest the most suitable products for each investor profile thanks to our risk tolerance questionnaire and investment guide.
Based on this, the personal manager offers a wide range of our own and third-party investment funds, innovating alternative and structured products, alternative management funds and life and health insurance.
BIBM group
The group has received various acknowledgements, notably the prize for the Andorran Bank of the Year in 2009, awarded by The Banker magazine.
The group won the European Excellence Award (EFQM) in 1999 and 2002, becoming the only company in the world to win it twice and the Ibero-American Excellence Award in 2001.
Likewise, we have a commitment to the environment, illustrated by the fact that the group was the first national company and the second European financial body to obtain the ISO 14001 certificate in 2000.
“Here at BIBM,” said Francesc and Jordi Mora, “we would like to express our sincere gratitude to readers of World Finance for voting for us in this year’s awards for the best financial group, in recognition of our career and results”.
