Author: Kathryn Walton

The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the UK gathers its Members at the historical Palacio de Santoña in Madrid

The networking event brought a number of esteemed guests from both private and public institutions together

 

Yesterday evening, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom held its II Annual Business Reception in Spain, which took place at the historically significant Palacio de Santoña in Madrid. The event allowed Chamber Members to network amongst the wider Spanish-British business community, and included representatives from other regional Chambers of Commerce across Spain.

 

The event was attended by both H.E. the Ambassador of Spain, Mr. José Pascual Marco, and H.E. the Ambassador of the United Kingdom, Mr. Hugh Elliott, as well as the Excmo. Sr. Pascual Navarro, the Minister for the European Union of the Spanish Government, amongst other esteemed guests.

 

Since its establishment in 1886, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce continues to grow and prosper, this year has been no exception. The evening was a pertinent example of the institution’s ability to successfully connect British-Spanish businesses, as well as to bridge the gap between both public and private institutions. This was exemplified by the attendance of important Spanish investors, representatives from several ministries, large and small companies, regional Chambers of Commerce and the wider civil society.

 

Acquired by the Dukes of Santoña in the 19th Century, around the same period that the Chamber itself was established, the Palacio de Santoña proved an excellent venue for this occasion, superbly embodying the historical significance and longevity of the institution. The palace is particularly recognised for its artistic value and decorative richness in all of its rooms.

 

The president of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Ángel Asensio gave an introductory speech to inaugurate the event. He expressed his wish to “agradecer la relación institucional y colaboración entre la Cámara de España en Reino Unido y la Cámara de Madrid con el fin de impulsar la internacionalización de nuestras empresas potenciando las relaciones comerciales entre ambos países. España y Reino Unido somos socios comerciales de primer nivel, un 46% de nuestro tejido empresarial tiene relación comercial con el mercado británico, siendo Madrid el principal destino de la inversión británica”.

 

The Chamber boasts an extensive network of Members and 45 Patrons, many of which were in attendance yesterday evening. During his speech Mr. Eduardo Barrachina, President of the Spanish Chamber, stated that “esta Cámara sigue creciendo en número de Socios, de Patronos, sigue creciendo en número de actos y actividades y sobre todo, crece en influencia”. The President highlighted the importance of the British market for Spain, emphasising that “nuestras empresas son parte de la transformación económica del Reino Unido”.

 

The Chamber’s close relationship with the Embassy of Spain in the United Kingdom was exemplified by the attendance of H.E the Ambassador of Spain. Mr. José Pascual Marco. During his speech, the Ambassador expressed that “en el último año y medio la Cámara de Comercio en Londres ha adquirido un 30% más de miembros. El trabajo que hace junto con la embajada creo que es un ejemplo de colaboración público-privada y demuestra el valor del modelo asociativo cámara”.

 

H.E the Ambassador of the United Kingdom, Mr. Hugh Elliott, acknowledged the importance of British-Spanish bilateral relations, both culturally and economically. He called attention to “la colaboración excelente entre las dos embajadas”. It was evident that the relationship between Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as that of the Chamber and the British Embassy, have never been stronger. The Ambassador added that “seguiremos trabajando para asegurar que la colaboración siga existiendo”.

 

This sentiment was expressed further by the Excmo. Sr. Pascual Navarro, the Secretario de Estado para la Unión Europea of the Spanish Government, who posited that “estamos en una nueva etapa de las relaciones entre España y el Reino Unido”. The Minister took the time to congratulate the Spanish Chamber for it’s recent 135th Anniversary.

 

With its continued growth and visibility, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the UK intends to carry on with promoting and furthering the economic and commercial relationships between Spain and the United Kingdom. The event was commemorative of how far the Chamber has come and its firm commitment to supporting Spanish companies that are looking to enter the British market.

 

Blog Post Written By Chamber Member FACEPHI BEYOND BIOMETRICS LIMITED

 

Pension scams and fraud

 

While the banking and financial services sector is commonly the hardest hit by fraud, the size and scope of the problem in the pensions industry specifically can be surprising to many. Nonetheless, the issue is significant and increasing due to continually evolving schemes. In the UK, for example, fraud and error in the national benefits system are estimated to have led to £8.6 billion in overpayment during the financial year of 2021 to 2022. Even following recoveries, the net government loss remained a staggering £7.6 billion – or 3.5% of total benefit expenditure(1).

Because of the size of the assets on average, pension funds make naturally high-value targets for fraudsters. At the same time, pension holders are particularly susceptible to online fraud. They’re often poorly equipped to deal with identity theft and at risk of accepting unsolicited offers online. A recent FCA study found that 72% of pension holders could not identify a common sign of a pension scam(2).

The exorbitant monetary and reputational cost of pension fraud and error makes it imperative for insurance providers to offer enhanced safeguards for data accuracy and the movement of funds, without creating negative experiences for the pension holder.

With biometric technology, pension providers can boost overall security and customer experience, while cutting operational costs.

 

Biometric tech shields pension holders and providers

 

Fraudsters may obtain a pension holder’s account and identity information through elaborate scams and theft. This information may then be used to access a pension holder’s account to change information and ultimately transfer funds.

Pension funds are often secured with legacy knowledge-based authentication methods (like passwords and security questions based on personal info) – something a user knows.

This authentication method is impractical, as the knowledge is often forgotten or time-consuming to submit, and offers a poor protection level, as fraudsters can glean the information through a variety of means (some as easy as simply perusing social media).

Although many pension providers have moved onto multi-factor authentication (MFA), incorporating something a user has (email or a device), it is still prone to hacking.

Biometric technology, on the other hand, relies on something a user is, which enables a far more secure and convenient method for customer authentication. This is because, biometric features, like a face or fingerprints, are unique to each person and are therefore virtually impossible to replicate.

Attempts to trick the system with fake artefacts (a picture of a face or a video) are prevented with passive liveness checks, which ensures the person in front of the authenticating device is live and present. Biometric data is also hard for bad actors to leverage, as it’s converted into numeric patterns, securely encrypted, and then time-stamped at the time of capturing with no possibility of reverse engineering.

In addition to account takeovers, pension providers must deal with the risk of fake or stolen identities being used by bad actors to join pension schemes for the purposes of fraud, tax evasion, or money laundering. This issue is particularly problematic when a pension provider doesn’t have sufficient means to accurately verify new members and their documents who are onboarding remotely.

With biometric technology, pension providers can accurately verify the identity of new members onboarding remotely. While facial recognition technology with passive liveness ensures the authenticity of the person, NFC reading or Machine Learning-based algorithms confirm the validity of the ID documents.

 

Biometric tech boosts data accuracy and prevent overpayments

 

Recent regulatory developments mandate that pension providers to prioritise accurate data management. Not only does inaccurate data result in costly payment errors and subsequent rectification, but it could also lead to significant reputational damage and severe legal challenges.

Biometric-based digital onboarding enables automated and accurate data capture during new member onboarding. With real-time OCR, the information provided on the submitted documents is accurately populated into the data fields. Any changes to a pension holder’s personal information can be done with an instant and secure biometric-based member authentication.

Inaccurate data might also lead to overpayments, including failure to notify the pension provider of a member’s passing.

As pension providers are naturally unaware of the full extent of overpayments, it’s hard to estimate the full scope of the issue, but account investigations and recouping funds are doubtlessly a very costly and inefficient business.

Fortunately, with liveness checks, pension providers can significantly mitigate overpayments by making sure the claims are made by the genuine (and alive) pension holder.

 

Biometric tech offers a superior customer experience

 

In a fiercely competitive environment, customer experience often becomes the deciding factor for commercial success. Pension providers that fail to provide a good customer experience risk losing members to competitors and suffering reputational losses. The trouble is that increasing security requirements often add to customer experience friction.

Biometric technology enables the ultimate end-to-end customer experience for pension holders, radically simplifying and streamlining the onboarding and authentication processes.

To register, new pension holders only need to capture their ID document with their device camera (the OCR automatically captures their info in real-time) and snap a selfie for verification. With good biometric identity verification solutions, the average onboarding time is under 5 seconds.

Thereafter secure and reliable user authentication is virtually instant. Authentication for the purposes of accessing pension dashboards, changing personal details, making claims etc. is as simple as looking at the camera. Lengthy passwords are not required, and pension providers can rest assured that their member accounts are well-protected from fraud.

Naturally, in addition to nifty onboarding and authentication, the ultimate customer experience for a pension holder is to truly be able to trust a pension provider with their savings. Pension providers must therefore prove that member account security is always at the forefront of their concerns. By adopting the right biometric technology, pension providers can fulfil the highest level of customer protection and satisfaction.

 

SOURCES 

1. UK Government. (2022) Background information: Fraud and error in the benefit system statistics, 2021 to 2022 estimates. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2021-to-2022-estimates/background-information-fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-statistics-2021-to-2022-estimates

2. Financial Conduct Authority. (2021) Scammers target over £2 million in pension pots in the last five months. Available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/scammers-target-pension-pots

 

 

Dear Members and Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce that Plain Concepts has recently become a Patron of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom.

Plain Concepts is a global IT professional services company that specialises in helping companies transform using the latest technology.
 
After spending over ten years at Plain Concepts as Operations Director, Quique Martinez Alén has been promoted to CEO to lead the company’s internationalisation efforts. 
 
Plain Concepts are driven by an enthusiasm for technology and are dedicated to finding the best solutions for their customers. Their main goal is to develop comprehensive and ground-breaking solutions, such as data-driven, cloud-native applications, with game-changing technologies like AI. They collaborate closely with their clients, upholding agile principles, and providing high-caliber software without outsourcing.
 
Their doors are open to people from all countries and cultures, allowing them to acquire the best talent from around the world. With the intention of assisting businesses in implementing new technologies for increased productivity and procedures, Plain Concepts are firmly committed to agile culture and principles. Their expertise lies in disruptive developments in AI, Mixed Reality, Big Data, Blockchain, IoT, and Cloud, with a mission to offer customised and innovative solutions for all digital needs.
 
With offices in the US, UK, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, and Romania, and a team comprising of over 500 employees, Plain Concepts have completed over 2,000 projects for companies across a variety of industries.
 
They have partnered at the highest level with key organisations, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Intel, Boston Dynamics, Leica, and Fluke, as a result of their extensive technological knowledge.
 
Plain Concept’s understanding of numerous industries and company sizes has allowed them to be a reference in Spain, with a current ambition to be a reference throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
 
Quote from Joan Sintes, European Country Lead:
 
“We enjoy working actively in partnership with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the UK. We still have a lot to learn about the UK market after five years, but we are confident that we also have a lot to offer. As a result, this partnership with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce is a fantastic chance for us to strengthen and expand our presence in the country.”

The contact details of Plain Concepts are as follows:

Name: Joan Sintes
Address: Plain Concepts LTD, 2nd Floor, 354 Grays Inn Rd, London WC1X 8B
Telephone: +44204566809
Email: jsintes@plainconcepts.com
Website: www.plainconcepts.com

Please join us in welcoming Plain Concepts to the Spanish Chamber!

 

 

Barrafina Invita: Xavier Pellicer, 7-8th March 2023

 

Barrafina and restaurant booking platform Resy are proud to announce the first Barrafina Invita, a new quarterly series where Barrafina’s Michelin-starred Chef Director Angel Zapata Martin, invites the best Spanish chefs or chefs cooking Spanish food, over to cook a special menu at a Barrafina for two days.

 

The series will showcase the breadth and quality of Spanish cooking from all over Spain and the rest of the world.

 

The first guest chef in the series is Xavier Pellicer, whose eponymous restaurant in Barcelona is known for its focus on biodynamic, organic vegetables, its respect for ingredients and those who produce them. Xavier Pellicer was awarded the Best Vegetable Restaurant in the World 2018 prize by We’re Smart Green Guide, and is recognised for its balance between the ‘pleasure of ingestion and the wellbeing of digestion.’

 

Xavier himself previously honed his skills working as Chef de Cuisine with the late Santi Santamaria at Can Fabes, Barcelona’s first 3 Michelin Star restaurant. Barrafina’s Chef Director, Angel, was also a protegee of the legendary Santi, heading up his Ossiano restaurant in Dubai, before his career took him to Ibiza and then Barrafina in London.

 

Angel Zapata Martin says, ‘I’m so excited to bring this new, exciting event to Barrafina guests, and to showcase all that Spanish cooking has to offer. Xavier is a brave cook who isn’t easily pigeonholed. His light, vegetable-led food will show British people that there is a vibrant, vital side to Spanish food that can be profound. Xavier’s career evolution has been a source of great inspiration to me and I can’t wait to welcome him here.’

 

Xavier Pellicer will be cooking a special set menu at Barrafina Borough Yards on the evenings of 7th and 8th March.

 

Bookings are available via Resy for the 7th March: https://resy.com/cities/ldn/venues/barrafina-borough-yards/events/barrafina-invita-xavier-pellicer-2023-03-07 and 8th March: https://resy.com/cities/ldn/venues/barrafina-borough-yards/events/barrafina-invita-xavier-pellicer-2023-03-08

 

The experience is priced at £70 and includes a set menu.

 

 

 

 

Blog Post Written By Chamber Member SCORNIK GERSTEIN LLP

 

SPANISH START UP LAW: DIGITAL NOMAD VISA, TAX INCENTIVES, ENHANCEMENT OF BECKHAM LAW AND BENEFITS FOR INVESTORS.

 

On 22nd of December 2022, the Spanish Parliament approved the ‘Ley 28/2022, de 21 de diciembre, de fomento del ecosistema de las empresas emergentes’, or commonly known as the Start-Up Law (SUL).

 

SUL seeks making Spain a leading destination country for innovative companies and digital nomads.

 

SUL is an ambitious piece of regulation bringing innovative measures at multiple levels, such as corporate, tax and immigration.

 

To provide a response to the important legal implications introduced by SUL, Scornik Gerstein LLP has launched a hub, led by its Managing Partner Antonio Arenas, where his team of expert lawyers will provide advice on the following key areas:

 

SPANISH DIGITAL NOMAD VISA:

 

– Who qualifies for the Spanish nomad visa?

– Where must a digital nomad working from Spain pay its taxes?

 

 

TAX INCENTIVES:

 

– What tax reliefs are available when investing in Spanish start-ups?

– During how many tax periods could I benefit from those tax incentives?

– Which companies qualify for the tax incentives provided by SUL?

 

 

ENHANCEMENT OF BECKHAM LAW:

 

– Who qualifies for the so-called Beckham tax regime?

– Can a Spanish Nomad Visa holder apply for the so-called Beckham tax regime?

– When this special tax regime must be applied for?

 

 

BENEFITS FOR INVESTORS

 

The requirements for investors investing in start-ups that will not reside in Spain are simplified, as they will no longer require obtaining a foreigner identity number (NIE); and the company incorporation process is eased, and for specific cases, lower notary and registry fees would apply.

 

– How to set up my company through the new online system that Start-up Law provides?

– How to apply to NIF through this new system?

 

This new legal hub not only redefines the way legal services are delivered, it also provides value to its users by providing free access to publications explaining the changes brought by SUL. If you are interested in receiving the said publications, send an email to laura.gallego@scornik.com

 

 

Written by Chamber Patron ONTIER LLP.

The legal industry stands on a bedrock of precedents, examples of the past enabling lawyers to predict the future. But what about when it hasn’t been done before? What about when definitions don’t even exist? What makes a disruptive lawyer is their ability to push through the unknown, to call for clarity when there is none and to challenge the industrial status quo.

This is exactly what global law firm Ontier has been doing for the last three years, with Ontier’s London team acting for Bitcoin’s inventor Satoshi Nakamoto (Dr Craig Wright), the author of The Bitcoin Whitepaper. Through multiple defamation trials to multibillion dollar asset recovery cases and commercial advice, the firm has been lighting the way for litigation in this embryonic and tumultuous sector.

A welcomed recent UK breakthrough has been HMRC’s (UK tax) definition of Bitcoin and other related assets. Depending on their use they can be defined as property or security and treated as any other asset. This fact allows for the use of many tools within the litigator’s arsenal including worldwide freezing orders and injunctions. Tools that ONTIER were already well-versed in. And though much of the sector remains unregulated globally, case by case ONTIER are laying down new precedents that will ultimately help to shape the regulatory landscape.

However, it doesn’t stop with litigation, the fusion of the firm’s broad sector expertise married with their now established track record in disruptive technologies (digital law), has enabled the interdisciplinary team to branch into new exciting areas of law. The firm regularly gather to collaborate on all things digital law, with two “Bitlaw Summits” this year alone, London and Naples.

In Italy, the team led by Luca Pardo, recently completed a tokenization project for luxury fashion brand Bulgari and from this have become go-to advisors on all things NFT and metaverse.

In Spain, the team led by Daniel Gutiérrez successfully advised an American AI company specialized in sports, and is working closely with Spanish sport clubs and federations to secure their intellectual property rights while implementing new entertainment strategies based on tokenization.

In USA, the team attended Miami Fashion Week’s digital fashion event and briefed entrepreneurs and influencers on the opportunities of perpetual royalties flowing from their creative endeavors and decentralisation within the metaverse.

In a profession designed to keep the peace or at least safeguard it, disruption is often unwelcome. The law can often be seen as reactive, rarely future focused: Ontier not only keeps up, but predicts, plans and future-proofs the successes of their clients. Because after all, disruptive technologies call for disruptive lawyers, ones that do not accept the trend but design and define new ways of interpreting the law.

To find out more about Ontier’s disruption into the blockchain sphere, see their digital law website: www.ontier.digital. 

 

 

Blog Post Written By Chamber Member Scornik Gerstein LLP

 

On 22nd of September 2022, the Spanish Congress approved the Create and Grow Law (C&Glaw). On 29th of September the said law was published on the Spanish Official State Gazette,1 and it became enforceable on 19th of October 2022 with the exception of certain rules, whose application will commence subsequent to that date.2

 

Below, we address the key points of the Spanish Create and Grow Law.

 

SETTING UP A LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ELECTRONICALLY WITH THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF CAPITAL OF JUSST 1 EURO

 

Pursuant to the C&Glaw, a limited liability company can be set up in Spain with a minimum capital amount of just 1 Euro, as opposed to the 3.000 Euros formerly required.

 

However, for the purpose of safeguarding the interests of creditors, the limited liability company must at least allocate 20% of its profits to its legal reserves until the said reserves, together with the company’s capital, reaches the amount of 3,000 Euros.

 

Additionally, if the company goes into liquidation, and if its assets are insufficient to meet its obligations, the shareholders shall be jointly and severally liable for the balance between the amount of 3,000 Euros and the company’s capital.

 

With the aim of simplifying the administrative processes and reducing the cost of setting up a Spanish Limited Liability company, the Create and Grow Law establishes measures to improve the services of the Centre and Business Creation Network (Centro de Información y Red de Creación de Empresas) allowing setting up a limited liability company by submitting the called Single Electronic Document (Documento Único Electrónico).

 

Some of those measures are, but is not limited to, the following:

 

I. The founders of a limited liability company will be able to adopt, if they wish to, a standard table of articles of association provided by the online system as in the United Kingdom.

II. The publication of the registration of the limited liability company in the Official Gazette of the Mercantile Registry will be exempt from payment of any fee.

III. The online system will provide a standard model of authorisation which can be used by the limited liability company to authorise to individuals or other companies to act on its behalf.

 

COMBATING LATE PAYMENT

 

The Create and Grow Law establishes the creation of the State Private Late Payment Observatory (Observatorio Estatal de la Morosidad Privada) with the aim of monitoring and analyse data on payment deadlines and promoting good payment practices.

 

Its actions include the publication of an annual list of defaulting companies that do not pay on time a percentage higher than 5% of their invoices or the total amount of unpaid invoices is higher than 600,000 euros.

 

According to article 4 of the Spanish Law 3/2004 of 29 December3 regarding payments in commercial transactions, the maximum period within which the debtor must pay any outstanding debt to a creditor is 30 days, unless the two counterparts set up another date of payment, which cannot exceed 60 days.

 

However, it is not uncommon for those deadlines not to be met and due to that, small and medium-size business can suffer lack of liquidity.

 

In order to combat late payment, the Create and Grow Law establishes that a company which does not makes a payment within the period mentioned above, will not be entitled to apply to any public subsidies nor be eligible for take part in public contracts.

 

MANDATORY B2B E-INVOICING

 

Pursuant to the Create and Grow Law, electronic invoices must be used in all commercial relations between companies and self-employed people. This measure not only contributes to reinforce the digitalization of the business operations, but also guarantees greater traceability and control of payments for the public administration in order to combat the late payment mentioned above.

 

Companies and self-employed individuals with an annual turnover over eight million Euros, must use the e-invoicing system within a year after regulatory development is approved, while companies and self-employed individuals with turnover under eight million Euros, must use the e-invoicing system within two years after the Create and Grow Law comes into force.

 

According to the Create and Grow Law, businesses and self-employed must give free of charge access to their e-invoices, which should be readable, printable and downloadable.

 

In addition, said access to must be maintained for up to four years since the invoices were produced.

 

If businesses or self-employed individuals do not comply with the e-invoicing regulation, they could face a fine of up to €10,000.

 

References 

1. la Ley 18/2022, de 28 de septiembre, de creación y crecimiento de empresas
2. Chapter V with regards to crowdfunding platforms will come into force from 10 November 2022.
3. https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2004 21830#:~:text=Esta%20Ley%20tiene%20por%20objeto%20combatir%20la%20morosidad%20en%20el,entre%20empresas%20y%20la%20Administraci%C3%B3n

 

 

Blog Post Written By Chamber Member Diversitas Institute 

 

3rd of December marks the International Day of People with Disabilities. A day to reflect, acknowledge and raise awareness on the extremely difficult challenges and barriers that the disability community face in all aspects of life, as well as to promote the support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. This year’s #IDPWD theme is “Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world”.

 

One billion people, approximately 15% of the world’s population, live with some form of disability. In the UK, 1 in 5 of the working-age population are classed as disabled. The number of disabled people in employment is rising but, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in 2021, in the UK, the disability employment rate was still 52.7% compared to 81.0% for non-disabled people.

 

From the business perspective, today is a reminder that the workplace is one of the areas in which there is still much to do. Companies are a reflection of society and, at the same time, should have a positive impact, leading by example and becoming enablers of change. The main challenge is how to effectively create an inclusive and supportive culture and to acknowledge what does inclusion really mean from a business perspective.

 

The question therefore is, how should an organisation create a disability-inclusive approach with a real impact in its culture and values?

 

• Listen, understand and learn from people with disabilities: Create safe spaces for people with disabilities to speak up. Make them feel welcome, valued, respected and part of the decision-making process. Understand their needs and expectations means to be aware of the challenges and difficulties they face and to learn from their experiences. Just as a reminder, by law, nobody has to tell their employer about their disability but, when they do, the employer has a legal responsibility to support them.

 

• Reduce barriers: make reasonable adjustments in place to resolve or minimize the difficulties faced by disabled employees. These adjustments should not just include visible changes in premises but they should also take into consideration setting up specific initiatives (such as training or mentoring), reviewing internal procedures (recruitment process, promotion, learning and development…) and making sure there is a zero-tolerance policy towards unacceptable behaviours. Again, listening, and involving disabled employees in the conversation in order to reduce, both physical and mental, barriers is an absolute must.

 

• Break the bias: challenge the stereotypes associated with disability and the wrong assumption that disabled people cannot work in certain sectors or in specific occupations. Unfortunately, there is still a paternalistic approach towards disability in the workplace. As an example, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in the UK, disabled workers are less likely to be in higher-skilled occupations.

 

• Attract talent: attract, recruit and promote people with disabilities. This requires a review of the internal procedures incorporating the equity, perspective. A more diverse and inclusive organisation sparks creativity and innovation, reduces attrition, enhances team performance, improves reputation and, ultimately, has a positive effect on business performance.

 

• Promote discussions and initiatives on how innovation can be a lever change to reduce inequalities and promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Innovative and creative, tools, resources and technological solutions can increase accessibility, sense of belonging, efficiency and, ultimately, improve performance.

 

• Celebrate diversity and the contribution of people with different abilities: Diverse capabilities and abilities need to be embraced, encouraged and celebrated. Let’s not forget that inclusion is about involving a wider representation of individuals, under the different dimensions of diversity, in the decision-making.

 

 

 

Prime Investors Capital (PIC), founded by Rafael Serrano Quevedo in 2009, is an established London-based investment management and advisory company, delivering superior returns by focusing on identifying opportunities to disrupt traditional business models across multiple industries. Prime works with both public and private sectors. Currently, it covers impact investments, finance, real estate, hospitality, and sports.

As investors and advisors, PIC has been funding, directly and indirectly, large-scale projects and privatisations in the US and Europe. It works together with banks, private equity firms and other financial institutions.

In the past, PIC was responsible for the investment funding and development of the Bulgari Hotel and Residences in London, which was the first newly built five-star hotel in prime Central London for over 30 years. The Bulgari Hotel London was the main success factor for the expansion and launch of the Bulgari Hotels and Residences, helping drive the entire Bulgari brand to a valuation of over $5bn.

PIC has an extensive track record in the public sector by working with and advising governments. PIC was responsible for outbidding 30 bidders in a public auction from Her Majesty’s Government to gain the rights to restore and privatize of the Admiralty Arch – a zenith of the British Empire – into what will become London’s only Waldorf Astoria Hotel with private residences. The valuation since inception has gone from an initial £65M to over £500M when completed.

PIC has a longstanding association with Spanish Government and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in London. They advised the Kingdom of Spain on the sale of the building housing the Instituto Cervantes – one of the most sought-after locations and properties in London. It is also helping the Kingdom of Spain with other strategic decisions such as the Spanish Consulate in the U.K.

As a former JP Morgan investment banker, Rafael Serrano Quevedo leads a team of professionals that have unrivalled relationships with highly engaged, well-capitalised institutional investors and ultra-high-net-worth family offices. This allows PIC to increase certainty of successfully raising capital, funding and advising governments and companies, as well as delivering the execution of projects, both on and off-market, especially in challenging macroeconomic environments.

The contact details of Prime Investors Capital are as follows:

Contact Name: Mr Rafael Serrano

Address: 33 St. James Square, London, SW1Y 4JS

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3675 7000

Website: http://www.primeinvestors.com

Email Address: info@primeinvestors.com

 

Please join us in welcoming Prime Investors Capital to the Spanish Chamber!

 

 

 

At the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the UK, we are delighted to have recently welcomed BiBo Shoreditch as a Patron of our institution. To learn more about Dani García’s successful Andalusian restaurant in London, we conducted an interview with the team to showcase all that BiBo Shoreditch has to offer.

 

Q. Could you briefly describe BiBo’s brand and presence in the UK?

 

A. Dani García is positioned at the pinnacle of Spanish cuisine thanks to his well-established business project: Grupo Dani García. After achieving great successes, such as the award of his Michelin Star (2019) Dani continued to push himself to create new ways to reach the world with his cuisine.

 

The BiBo brand was born in Marbella in 2014 and it came from Dani Garcia’s desire to create a casual concept to democratise fine dining in the form of a brasserie and tapas bar. The dishes combine the products of Dani’s homeland, Andalusia, together with the techniques and ingredients of international cuisines. BiBo Shoreditch is the first restaurant from chef Dani Garcia in the UK, located in the Mondrian Shoreditch hotel, the menu features a range of traditional tapas and paellas, as well as a special Brunch offering in the weekends.

 

Q. What makes BiBo unique? What makes Bibo different from the rest of the competition in the UK hospitality industry?

 

A. BiBo stands out for its variety and style, being able to adapt to different locations. Our Goal is to highlight the flavours of the world through the vision of chef Dani Garcia, who defines himself as an ‘artisan of flavours’, and it is currently positioned as one of the Andalusian chefs with the greatest international projection to this day.

Q.What is the favourite dish at BiBo London vs other cities?

 

A. The best-selling dish in BiBo Shoreditch, and in many other BiBo’s around the world, is the oxtail brioche. Other favourite dishes around the world are tuna belly tartar and gambas al ajillo.

 

Q. What sparked your interest in becoming a Patron of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the UK?

 

A. We believe that becoming a Patron of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce is a fantastic opportunity for BiBo Shoreditch to network and be part of a community of Spanish companies/brands who are making a difference in the UK market by representing the best of Spain.

 

Q. What do you hope to get out of your membership at the Chamber?

 

A. To strengthen the relationship with other businesses and be able to contribute to this community through our passion for Spanish food.