Next Tuesday, Ana Botín will celebrate her first decade as president of Banco Santander, a few years in which the entity has not stopped growing, has broken all profit records, has reorganized its management team several times and has reinvented itself to be a “one hundred percent digital bank with branches.” But there have also been difficult times, such as Brexit, the Covid pandemic and all the transformations it brought with it, including the acceleration of the digitalization of the sector, and even “soap operas” such as the failed hiring of the Italian banker Andrea Orcel as CEO in 2018 or the purchase of Banco Popular for one euro.
Botín, who took up her post in the most painful way for a daughter, after the unexpected death of her father, Emilio Botín, was unanimously chosen on 10 September 2014 by the bank’s board of directors, which considered her “the most suitable person” due to her personal and professional qualities, her experience, her career in the Group and her national and international recognition.
Prior to her appointment, which was received with reluctance by some of the foreign investment funds with a presence in the bank’s capital, Ana Botín had participated in the Group’s international expansion, with the opening of franchises in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, as well as chairing Banesto and being CEO of Santander UK.
The new president quickly realized that changes were needed at the bank and in her first 100 days she made “hard and difficult” decisions, such as dismissing the CEO, Javier Marín, to appoint José Antonio Álvarez, or changing the heads of all the “key” markets, as well as making a strategic shift in issues such as corporate governance, capital management or dividends.
He also introduced a “new corporate culture, a new management style and a new way of doing things” to the bank from the very beginning, as well as being self-critical and publicly defending the social function of banks in terms of their contribution to the economic progress of their clients through credit.
Simple, personal and fair
After launching a capital increase of 7.5 billion euros in January 2015, the largest in Europe to date, and having the support of shareholders, Botín announced in February the bank’s new operational and financial objectives and what she called “The Santander way”: the new way of doing things: simple, personal and fair, a slogan that accompanied her for years.
Botín was already advocating a focus on commercial transformation, based on customer engagement, digitalisation and operational excellence, with the aim, as he explained, of being “more profitable and generating greater growth in the next ten years”.
In 2016, the bank had to deal with Brexit, the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU, one of its strategic markets, which had a strong impact on its stock market value, although the president did not hesitate to reaffirm the entity’s commitment to its clients and its employees in the country. Another of Ana Botín’s initiatives was the relaunch, in 2017, of Openbank, the first 100% digital Spanish bank that uses a technological infrastructure hosted in the cloud and numerous cutting-edge functionalities in the financial sector.
The entity quickly became a hub of innovation for the bank and years later, its digital “front-end” system or graphical user interface developed by ODS (Openbank Digital Services) will be the reference to be implemented in all the Group’s units. And in September 2023, the entity announced its decision to organize its activity around five global businesses: Retail & Commercial, Digital Consumer Bank, Payments, Corporate & Investment Banking, and Wealth Management & Insurance.
According to Efe, the experience of the last eight years has shown the company that having a common business and operating model and global platforms “is a great advantage for having the best solutions on the market, improving efficiency and freeing up employee time from low value-added tasks.”
This way, the bank can offer what customers want: competitive prices, a frictionless digital experience and a bank that is their trusted partner.
After announcing record results of 11.076 billion euros obtained in 2023, Ana Botín explained that the bank’s objective is “to deliver results in the short term and ensure that they grow and are sustainable”, while expressing her conviction that this year’s accounts will be even better despite the greater geopolitical risks and the slowdown in the global economy.
And to achieve all these objectives and to further strengthen the business in Spain, the bank announced yesterday the appointment of Ignacio Juliá, until now CEO of ING in Spain and Portugal, as CEO of the Spanish subsidiary.
Botín said she was “delighted” with the appointment of Juliá, who she highlighted as “a young professional with extensive experience in the banking model we want to be”, which will help “accelerate the implementation of global platforms and boost the growth of Santander Spain”.
