Fernando Sanchez

Fernando Sánchez Santidrián has more than 25 years of experience in financial markets, with a track record concentrated in investment and risk roles. For years he led the Open Architecture ("Arquitectura Abierta") team at CaixaBank Asset Management — the unit responsible for selecting and monitoring third-party funds used in the group's funds-of-funds, SICAVs and client portfolios. Within that team he specialised in alternative funds, working alongside colleagues Elena Ruiz Takata and Pablo García.

In that alternatives role he and his team monitored a universe of roughly 400 funds, concentrating on five hedge-fund strategy buckets: relative value, event driven, global macro, CTA/managed futures, and long/short equity. He is a frequent commentator in the Spanish financial press (FundsPeople, Funds Society, Estrategias de Inversión) and in industry video interviews on hedge funds and alternative assets, and he holds the CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) designation.

In April 2026, CaixaBank AM reinforced its organisational structure by creating a new Direction for the Development and Management of Alternative Assets, reporting directly to General Management and led by Álvaro Villanueva. Within that new unit, Sánchez Santidrián was named Director of Alternative Investments, and the team was reinforced with five additional alternative-investment specialists (including external hires) to strengthen analysis, structuring and management of these assets. He sits on / participates in the firm's senior management structure for the alternatives business.

CaixaBank Asset Management itself was founded in 1985 (long known as InverCaixa Gestión) and is the largest asset manager in Spain, leading in mutual funds and discretionary management, with operations in Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg (offices in Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Porto and Luxembourg).

• Allocates to funds, not companies. His mandate is institutional manager selection — choosing and monitoring third-party fund managers for inclusion in CaixaBank's funds-of-funds, SICAVs and client portfolios.
• Alternatives specialist. Core focus is hedge funds / liquid alternatives across five strategies: relative value, event driven, global macro, CTA/managed futures, and long/short equity; the new 2026 unit extends the firm's push into broader alternative/private markets.
• Skin-in-the-game alignment. The Open Architecture team's stated philosophy (articulated by team head Arantza Loinaz) is that a fund is only recommended to clients if the team also holds it in its own funds-of-funds or SICAVs — "otherwise it makes no sense."
• Scale and breadth of coverage. The team has historically screened a universe of ~400 alternative funds, implying a preference for managers that can clear an institutional due-diligence bar (track record, risk controls, capacity, transparency).
• Risk-first orientation. His background is described as spanning both investment and risk areas, consistent with an institutional, downside-aware selection process.