Banco Santander has given a total shift in the organizational chart of its subsidiaries in the UK, especially in Spain, and generally in Europe, as announced yesterday. The goal is to “continue to advance in the development of One Santander,” according to the bank, which means accelerating the bank’s transformation and improving its profitability and efficiency in two countries that have been key to the group but which have lost weight.
Thus, Antonio Simoes has been appointed, as planned, CEO of Santander Spain and will continue as the regional president of Europe. He replaces Rami Abu Khair, who has been appointed as the Group’s Global Head of Cards and Digital Solutions, a newly created position that will report to the CEO, Jose Antonio Alvarez.
The bank explained that with Simويسes appointed as Spain’s CEO, the management structure of Europe “is in line with that of the North and South America regions, where the regional directors are also CEOs of a country”.
Rami Abu Khair’s new role was created in order to “develop the card business in the context of One Santander’s vision”. The goal is to “build a single card platform”.
Anna Putin thanked Rami Abu Khair, her trusted man since joining B Ansto, “for his success in changing Santander Spain over the past six years and in integrating Banco Popular.”
The replacement of Abu Khair in Spain also brought other changes. Consequently, Angel Rivera will be responsible for the channels of distribution and commercial activity. “Ngel brings strong expertise and his role will be key to spearheading a new phase of business growth in
Spain, “he refers to the bank in an internal statement.
Rivera was until now head of the entity’s retail division in Europe. This former CEO of Banco Popular has gained weight in the group by being the right hand of the Simôes in the new hull. Rivera will be Spain’s new business head, on whom a large portion of the managers of the country’s various business divisions will depend, except for wholesale banking, which will continue as before.
Mathias Sanchez also gained weight with the group, and also started his career in Spain. Until now, he was responsible for commercial banking in Chile and now he is in charge of retail products in Europe and Santander Spain.
Both will be the strongest men from the Sim ines in Spain, the bank says.
Other changes are the changes made by Amaya Casero, the new director of human resources and regulation in Santander Spain and Europe, and the change of Pablo del Campo, the new financial and strategic director in Santander Spain and Europe, responsible for the areas of strategy, administrative and financial control, costs and real estate.
Financial sources indicate that these changes, affecting Spain and the European region in general, will be followed by others, and it is expected that Simões will design a new organizational chart for the second levels in the future.
But the Santander redesign in Europe is also affecting the UK. In Santander UK, the current CEO, Nathan Bostock, will move to a global position as Head of Investment Platforms. The succession plan to appoint the new CEO of Santander UK is underway and Nathan Bostock will remain in office until a successor is appointed.
“With One Santander, we will simplify and improve customer service by leveraging the collective strength of the group. We are making good progress and with this change, which is in line with the European model with that of the other two regions, we will accelerate our transformation.”
Samis: “Today begins a new phase.”
Contact. Santander Spain’s new CEO, Antonio Simoes, explained to employees in an internal statement that the aim of bnco now is for clients to feel a deep relationship with Santander while generating shareholder value.
Conversion. Spain’s new CEO justified the new changes in the structure of Spain, in the project “Starting a new phase of the bank’s commercial and cultural transformation”.
Key symbol. In his letter, Simoes described Spain as “a fundamental pillar in the transformation of our business in Europe”. He referred to competitors as “excellent, traditional and new”, and in order to “be a better bank, we must accelerate the transformation and simplify our business”.
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