A Cartagena at the top of the bank

Last week, as one more fan, I went to the Palacio de Deportes to see our FC Cartagena Club Baloncesto, which this year has returned to the LEB Plata League. He played against Herbalife Gran Canarias, which he won comfortably to the delight of all the fans.

Along the way I met my friend Rodolfo, and taking advantage of the better weather, we took a long walk through the Trimilenaria while we both remembered what our city was like many years ago, when the Argentine Theater was installed next to the old vegetable and You could find the vedettes between the well-known Esteban Bar and the Verdú Ice Cream Shop, on Caridad Street, and other well-known corners at that time, such as the Míchigan bar and the famous Máiquez cinema behind it. The truth is that San Fernando street was at that time a hive of people and shops, one next to the other, without any closed ground floor, just as if it were a big city.

And in the middle of the street, the Ginés butcher shop, the one with the Golden Lady, with that blackboard on which sometimes, when real bulls were fought, it announced: “Today, fighting bull meat”; and the trade in nativity figures, the El Gamo shotgun shop and, a little further on, the endearing Matías cafeteria, with its exquisite tapas and sparkling cleanliness that made you want to go in. And then we ended up in Santa Florentina street, on the corner of the vegetable store, the little rat store (Galerías La Ilusión), owned by the Checa family, the La Florida store and the unforgettable Carrots records, which he sold to us. all vinyl at the price of one hundred pesetas per unit. Opposite, the fabric store of La Virgen de Los Dolores, the exquisite churros in the corner, the café of Vicente Celdrán El Loro until reaching Radio Hogar Arroyo, the appliance store of Domingo Arroyo, grandfather of our mayor, Noelia.

We were almost reaching the Palace when we were joined by Amalio, representative of the former La Caixa, who told us that the son of his colleague Joaquín Carrasco, the man who established this entity in the Trimillenary, had been appointed by Credit Suisse as the top executive of private banking for Spain and Portugal, a high level position within this outstanding sector.

Credit Suisse is a financial services company, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, that offers financial advisory services to both private and corporate clients. Founded in 1856 by Alfred Escher, it has 48,000 employees worldwide and manages assets of more than 1.512 trillion. Established in Spain for more than 25 years, with a local presence in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, they work with the purpose of offering their clients the most appropriate, innovative and personalized wealth management solutions, putting at the service of their clients a that combines a large team of specialists in private banking, investment banking and asset management capable of providing fully customized solutions that adapt to the needs of each client.

The integrated bank model that is Credit Suisse, with representation throughout the world, is a basic support to develop the different phases of the life cycle of a business, both for a successful small business that is ready to move to the next level, as for a company that wants to go public. And to meet all these objectives, they have put Pablo Carrasco Martínez, from Cartagena, in charge, who has more than twenty years of experience in large banks spread over several continents. He started with Banesto in Madrid, and then signed for Credit Suisse, with whom he spent four years in Madrid, seven in Singapore and another four years in Zurich, until now returning to Madrid again as senior manager of private banking for Spain and Portugal.

In his 15 years as senior executive of this financial holding company, he has held various positions of responsibility within the wealth management area, ending up as senior manager of the family offices for all the delegations in Europe, directed from Zurich. With this appointment, the multinational's goal is for Pablo to lead a strategic market for the bank and continue to drive growth in our country and Portugal.

This executive from Cartagena began his studies at the Colegio La Inmaculada of the Franciscan PP, later moving to the Colegio Jesús y María in Valencia due to family relocation and, finally, the Colegio Hermanos Maristas de Cartagena upon the return of the family. Pablo has a law degree from the University of Navarra and a master's degree in Banking and Finance from the Centro de Estudios Garrigues in Madrid, where he also collaborated as facilitator of 'training' on investment products.

This man from Cartagena, who presumes to be one, enjoys skiing and playing football and loves to travel with his wife and his three children, with whom he has traveled to more than fifty countries. In his spare time he enjoys reading about people management, psychology and biographies. The truth is that, once again, Cartagena can be proud of the product it exports and with which it makes itself known to the world.

And so, to toast the great future that awaits Pablo, Rodolfo invited me to accompany him to his attic to share with him an exquisite wine from the Conesa Family, a great businessman in our region and owner of the DO Pago Guijoso de El Bonillo. , in the field of Montiel de las Tierras de Castilla. This winery is the result of the dream and commitment of an entire family, with good teamwork and a lot of passion that, together with the purity of the old vines and the fusion of tradition and present, emerge today as unique and pure wines. who look from experience to the future.

Rodolfo uncorked two bottles of Pago Guijoso, La Sabina Syrah vintage 2012, a wine aged eleven months in French oak barrels, very powerful, structured and intense, with sweet and fleshy tannins, which left a significant weight of fruit in the aftertaste and which paired perfectly with the original appetizer that he had prepared: "around the world in twelve cheeses". We started the gastronomic journey with a Sakura cheese from Japan, to continue with an Oaxaca from Mexico and then a River Blue from the USA. After them we continued with an Italian Parmigiano Reggiano, which was exquisite, and a Halloumi from Cyprus, made with sheep and goat milk, with a salty touch that makes it something very special.

We then tried a French Comte, with a minimum maturation of four months and having already arrived in Spain, and honoring the wine, we had a cured Hacienda Guijoso cheese and another Gran Reserva with Iberian butter. And after the home stop, we continue with a Queijo Rabacal from Portugal, a hard and spicy cheese that has a very unique texture. To finish, a great Swiss cheese, a Tete de Moine, which has been made for more than eight centuries, cut with its own machine, the Girolle, and seasoned with a touch of pepper and cumin that gave it a very special touch.

Lastly, and to change things up, he prepared us some grilled kid chops that we accompanied with a bottle of La Sabina Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, which he paired luxuriously with such exquisite meat. And with this great wine we toast to this great countryman to whom we wish all the best and to whom we wish the greatest success since, as many of us know: «Success in life is not measured by what you achieve, but by the obstacles that you overcome” and I am sure that Pablo will be able to overcome any obstacle that may come his way.