Santander Bank is streamlining its executive structure and boosting its efforts in the digital space, the Madrid, Spain, institution announced Thursday (Feb. 24).
Chief Executive Officer Jose Antonio Alvarez will report to the full board directly instead of through Chairwoman Ana Botin, Santander stated in a news release.
Alvarez, the announcement states, will focus on “regions, countries and global businesses.” Bolin, the announcement stated, will focus on new digital units PagoNxt and Digital Consumer Bank.
The Financial Times stated in a report on the changes that they were made “in response to pressure from European regulators to improve corporate governance.”
Santander’s news release stated: “These changes are designed to accelerate Santander’s digital transformation initiatives and sharpen operational execution in line with the company’s goal to increase connectivity across the group …. Furthermore, to ensure the ongoing clarity of roles between the executive chair and the CEO in line with governance best practice, the CEO will report exclusively to the board.”
Botin said in a prepared statement: “The changes allow a dedicated management focus on long-term strategy and growth initiatives as we build the Santander of tomorrow, while at the same time ensuring we continue to support our customers today and drive strong financial and operational performance across our regions and businesses. As well as aligning our model to peers, the changes ensure we continue to meet the highest standards of governance with a clear differentiation between the executive chair and CEO roles.”
Separately Santander announced that at an April 1 shareholder meeting bank leaders will propose adding German de la Fuente, a former Deloitte consultant, to Santander’s board of directors.
De la Fuente, if approved, would fill a slot being vacated by Alvaro de Souza.
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