A man walks past a Santander bank branch in Guernica, Spain, April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Vincent West

MADRID, June 17 (Reuters) – Spain’s Santander (SAN.MC) has appointed Mexican Hector Grisi as chief executive to oversee the bank’s digital transformation and growth strategy as the entire sector is shaken by global economic uncertainty.

Grisi, 55, who made the bank’s US business its most profitable last year, will take the helm from January 1 next year, the bank announced on Friday, after replacing Jose Antonio Alvarez who has held this position since 2015.

Santander’s diversification, particularly in Latin America, has helped the bank weather tough conditions for lenders in Europe since the financial crisis, where it cut costs to cope with rock-bottom interest rates.

Although its main market, Brazil, is slowing, the efficiency measures implemented in Europe, combined with continued interest rate hikes in Britain and Poland, boosted first-quarter profits. But more aggressive and faster-than-expected interest rate hikes in both the euro zone and the United States to combat high inflation are weighing on its stocks. Read more

Since the ECB paved the way for deeper rate hikes on June 9, Santander shares have fallen more than 9%. They rose 1% in early trading on Friday.

“Given the internal profile of the appointment and the lack of change in the executive role of the chairman, any significant change in strategic terms seems unlikely and therefore the impact on the share price should be limited. “, UBS said in a note.

Grisi’s appointment comes at a time when Executive Chairman Ana Botin said the lender would seek growth opportunities in Mexico, such as the potential acquisition of Citigroup’s (CN) retail business in Mexico.

Botin said in a statement that “Grisi’s track record as CEO of Santander Mexico and head of North America speaks for itself and illustrates why we believe he is the right person to lead the bank in the next phase of our transformation and growth.”

The move comes more than three years after the Spanish lender withdrew a bid to appoint Italian banker Andrea Orcel CEO, marking a rare and unexpected turnaround on such a high profile appointment and resulting in a bitter legal battle. Read more

The bankers were therefore waiting for an internal candidate to replace Alvarez. Santander said Grisi’s appointment was made following a rigorous evaluation process.

OVERSIGHT GROWTH AND REGIONS

Grisi will also take the helm following recent changes to the bank’s operational structure to accelerate its digital transformation as lenders try to fend off competition from internet-based new entrants.

The bank then said that the new technology units, PagoNxt and Digital Consumer Bank, would be overseen by Botin, while Santander’s regions, countries and global businesses would report to the CEO.

Grisi will report exclusively to the bank’s board following February’s change in the bank’s corporate governance structure.

However, President Ana Botin who will retain her executive role.

In many Spanish lenders, the chairman has executive powers and controls strategy while the CEO manages day-to-day business.

Eurozone bank supervisors favor a division of roles between the chairman and the chief executive, with good governance being one of their top priorities.

Grisi, whose professional career spans more than 35 years, was educated in Mexico and Canada.

Before joining Santander as CEO in Mexico in 2015, he spent 18 years at Credit Suisse, where he held various management positions, including Head of Investment Banking for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. , then president and CEO of the Mexican bank Credit Suisse. unity.

As head of the North America region, Grisi was responsible for a record year for profitability in 2021 in the United States, generating $2.7 billion compared to $648 million in 2018, bringing the largest contribution to the profit of all the group’s markets, said Santander. .

Reporting by Jesús Aguado; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Shailesh Kuber, Elaine Hardcastle

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