Bernardino Gómez Aritmendi
Bansabadell Vida, Bansabadell Seguros Generales and Bansabadell Pensiones
CEO
Bernardino Gómez Aritmendi, CEO of Bansabadell Vida, Bansabadell Seguros Generales and Bansabadell Pensiones, shares his insights and experience in a conversation with Qorus’ Boris Plantier. From his career path to his approach to work and leisure time, the discussion provides an opportunity to learn more about this leader in the Spanish insurance sector and to gather valuable tips from him.
Please tell us a little bit about your background.
I was born in Madrid and have a degree in Economics, Business and Finance from CUNEF (1994) plus a Master’s in Finance and Management Control from IE Business School (2000).
I started my career in 1994 at Accenture, and after 13 years there I moved to Banco de Sabadell in 2007 as a member of the Management Committee for the Insurance division. In 2009, I joined the Zurich Group as a member of the Management Committee at Zurich Vida Spain and then went to Zurich Santander Insurance America, a joint venture between Banco Santander and Zurich Insurance, in 2011.
During the next seven years, I was regional Chief Operations and Technology Officer on its Management Committee and had the chance to see up close how they do things in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay. I was then CEO of Zurich Santander Mexico for the following four years. They are all very different yet share a common thread, which is how best to meet our customers’ needs in each setting.
Since 2022, I have been CEO of Bansabadell Vida, Bansabadell Seguros Generales and Bansabadell Pensiones, which are Banco de Sabadell and Zurich Insurance investees.
What does your workplace look like?
My workplace is where the business is run with the people who make it happen. In joint ventures where you work with two partners, it is essential to be close to both of them to ensure your goals are aligned, and also to the people in the bank you work with in addressing your customers’ everyday needs.
When I am in our branches, I like to share the space with our people in formal or informal meetings. Furthermore, our branches are BREEAM certified, which assesses how environmentally sustainable buildings are, and we have achieved the Gold level in the WELL Building Standard.
Could you describe your usual working day?
I would love to have a usual working day, since every day is completely different.
However, one thing I do have a habit of doing is to get ready in good time for the week, which means that at the weekend I go through the whole week to plan out the things I want to do, setting the specific goals I’m looking to achieve in the week with our partners and our teams.
For the most part, I like to start each day regardless of where I wake up by doing 15 minutes of exercise and having breakfast in a quiet place where I can mull over the day ahead. Again, I like to spend 15 minutes reading my favorite book before I go to sleep no matter where I am.
What is your favorite food?
That’s an interesting question and the common denominator of what I like is salads with widely varying ingredients depending on where I am. Overall, I’m keen on oriental cuisine and trying different things. Plus lately I’ve become fond of matcha tea with almond milk.
What do you do when you need a break from work?
I would say that I have two kinds of breaks. Firstly, I enjoy walking, talking and being together with my family when they have time for me to be with them and can tell me about what’s going on in their lives. Then secondly, I like strolling around towns and cities and mingling in the hustle and bustle to see what life is like there, what happens when you go for a wander.
What is the key to building a successful team?
It all depends on what you mean by “successful team”, because it is just as important to think of the people as a team as it is to think of the people themselves as what they are, people with their individual situations, ambitions and so on. As I see it, the team has to share a common purpose to evolve through its achievements and see how they are accomplished. For a team to be successful, each person in it has to grasp their pivotal role in enabling us to meet the challenges. And how by delivering on those challenges, they themselves will be able to grow in the way they want to.
There is a saying that we learn more from failure than success. Tell me about one of your failures and what you have learned from it.
My main lesson learned is that success is only possible with people. It is a world of people and all business is business with people.
It doesn’t matter how perfect your proposal, your model or your presentation is if people are not engaged and don’t see it as their own. This means communication in its diverse forms and meanings is the constant and unfinished business which calls for a great deal of preparation to make sure it is seamless, coupled with a close relationship with the people who are going to be part of it in which they need to feel they are listened to and, ultimately, reflected.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to succeed in financial services?
This last question is pretty much answered by the previous one, although again, in my view, besides the fact that success only comes with the people who are with you on the journey, I would add the importance of having a vision over and above experience and tradition; being open-minded about new possibilities, even when there is strong resistance, together with dogged tenacity to move forward and achieve your goals.
