Alfredo Sáenz, chief executive of the euro zone’s biggest bank, Santander, stepped down ahead of a decision that could have banned him from banking because of a criminal conviction.
His departure spares the central bank from making a definitive call on whether Saenz should be declared unfit for banking, after a number of conflicting court rulings and changing government rules.
The regulator had been due to decide in the coming weeks.
Santander said in a statement that 70-year-old Saenz, who has worked closely with chairman Emilio Botin for 20 years, was stepping down voluntarily and thanked him for his work at the bank, which has quadrupled in size over that time.
Santander’s board met on Monday and named Javier Marin, 46, as the bank’s new chief executive. Marin, who runs the private banking operation, represents a new generation but is also a confidante of 78-year-old Botin.
Saenz was seen as a skilled retail banker, while Botin was the dealmaker. Together they transformed the bank from a regional lender to an international powerhouse.
Saenz was one of the few Santander executives that Botin would delegate to, according to a source who has worked with upper management at the bank, and the chairman had publicly defended the CEO and resisted pressure for him to step down.
A source with knowledge of the proceedings said Santander had a number of conversations with the central bank over Saenz and his successor. «Saenz’s voluntary resignation is a non-traumatic close to this chapter,» the source said.
«This is a very positive decision for banking stability and for Santander,» a central bank source said.
Saenz was convicted in 2009 for making false accusations against debtors in 1994 when he headed Banesto bank, which is now part of Santander. Banesto had sued the debtors to recover debt and they countersued. A judge sentenced him to a brief time in jail, but that was suspended.
Santander did not say how much Saenz would be compensated on leaving the bank, but his accumulated pension rights are just over 88 million euros ($115 million), according to the bank’s audited accounts.
The rich pension could fuel anger at bankers in Spain after a 40 billion euros public bailout of weak banks that saddled investors in those banks with almost total losses.
Santander’s enormous international expansion over more than a decade has only somewhat shielded it from a financial and economic crisis in Spain, where the banking sector was crippled by the collapse of a housing bubble in 2008.
Flagging income in Brazil and a recession in Spain dragged down the bank’s first quarter profit by 26 percent.
The bank’s shares, which have lost 9 percent so far this year, rose 2.6 percent on Monday to 5.56 euros, outperforming the European bank sector index, which rose 0.99 percent.
«The change in CEO does not come as a surprise, given the legal pressure on him to resign, but the appointment of Javier Marin as new CEO is unexpected,» said Francisco Riquel, analyst with N+1 brokerage in Madrid.
«That said, he has the youngest profile of the top management … he has worked very closely with and has the full trust of Chairman Mr. Botin. In this context, we do not expect meaningful changes in the strategic guidelines of the bank.»
Source: Buenos Aires Herald