Whatever criticisms may be made of Ana Patricia Botín, she certainly inherited her father's entrepreneurial talent. During her 10 years at Santander she pushed the investment bank forward at a hectic speed, recruiting top bankers and at one stage harbouring ambitions that it could become a global player. The emphasis was on emerging markets, however, and she firmly implanted the Santander Investment franchise in Latin America such that when the bank wanted to acquire retail banks in the region, experienced dealmakers were in position to negotiate for them. Ana Patricia didn't stop there. Her vision was to have a huge flow of emerging-market securities that could add to the Latin flow already going through the New York and London hubs to investors. She was expanding Santander into Mediterranean countries such as Egypt and Turkey and when the Asian investment bank Peregrine failed, she picked up a team of 130 equities specialists in February 1998. She also took on the running of the Latin American retail banks and headed the search for a bank in Portugal. In late 1997, when Santander Investment was merged into the commercial bank, she acquired responsibility for wholesale banking and treasury.