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LATEST ARTICLES
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New accounts targeted at low-income customers reflects the reality of intense competition in the sector.
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BBVA could have bought Banco Sabadell much more cheaply in 2020. Sabadell’s CEO César González-Bueno has since turned his bank around. But BBVA’s return to the negotiating table comes at a time when European banking may be moving to a new and more confident phase.
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Intesa Sanpaolo’s Isybank is the latest in-house neobank to run into trouble. But the desire to migrate core-banking systems onto the cloud is still encouraging other banks to follow this strategy.
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As banks retreat to their home markets, they must find reliable partners to serve corporate customers overseas or risk losing them.
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The good news is that bank executives don’t see big loan losses ahead; the bad news is that they lack the confidence and vision to invest in the business.
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With the growth in wealth in all regions – and particularly in Latin America, which has seen a soft commodities-boom generate large increases in the high net-worth segment in recent years – the key to serving these clients is efficiency.
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If necessity is the mother of innovation, then it is perhaps no surprise that Santander Private Banking’s digital platform – which spans all the main Latin American private-banking clients – was the one that impressed the judges the most.
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Santander Private Banking in Latin America enjoys certain natural advantages thanks to the bank’s geographical footprint and strategy. Overlaying the global bank’s strength within the region is dominance in Spain and Europe more broadly, as well as a presence in the US. This perfectly matches the domestic market for private banking in Latin America – the local presence is essential to serve these clients – while also offering access to the main markets that Latin Americans tend to think of first when seeking portfolio diversification.
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Santander Private Banking’s ultra-high net-worth segment is called Private Wealth and covers clients who have more than €20 million. The bank has been growing this segment in recent years and it now has more than 100 dedicated bankers and specialists in Latin America.
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Santander’s presence in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay means it is well positioned to support clients across Latin America.
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There is no better wealth manager in Latin America than Banco Santander. It won the award for best private bank in Latin America in Euromoney’s 2023 private banking awards.
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Banco Santander’s headquarters are in Europe, but the centre of gravity of its operations has been drifting westward to Latin America for many years now. Over the review period, the bank posted a solid year of progress among many of its Latin American markets, which comprise Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Peru.
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Isabel Guerreiro, head of retail and digital for Europe at Banco Santander, describes her employer as a digital bank with branches. This is what is behind the Spanish bank’s continued success with the small and medium-sized enterprise segment across Europe.
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The growing weight of non-European markets speaks volumes about the Spanish bank’s EM capabilities as other global banks have headed for the exit.
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The Spanish lender continues to demonstrate the business case for inclusivity.
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Servicing demanding SME clients pays off if you take the long-term view.
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Not many new private banking mandates are won thanks to an institution’s abilities in succession planning. But many a client has been lost over a bank's poor succession planning capabilities when this becomes a touch point for clients, as it inevitably does at some stage.
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Santander’s progress in its family office business is recognised by the judging panel not because of any specific innovation or differentiated approach, but rather for the focus on service quality that sets the bank apart.
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The consistent growth in both the scale and the quality of Santander’s private banking business in Latin America this year has impressed the judging panel.
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The echoes of 2014 have been loud in Brazil’s private banking industry over the past 12 months. A precipitous fall in interest rates – followed by a meteoric rise – has left the market completely the same but also very different.
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Banks like Santander, BNP Paribas and SocGen see auto finance and the future of mobility as critical pieces of their overall group strategies. But as mobility becomes an increasingly fractured business, what does the auto finance bank of the future look like?
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Santander executive chairman Ana Botín has stepped back from the M&A-based restructuring many assumed former CEO candidate Andrea Orcel would oversee. Euromoney asks Botín and her new chief executive, Héctor Grisi, how they plan to make this international retail bank succeed.
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Traditional banking career paths may be becoming a thing of the past.
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Central and eastern Europe’s best bank for corporate responsibility this year inevitably goes to an institution that has focused on aid for Ukrainian refugees. For many banks in the region, this was an overwhelming priority during the first days and weeks of the war.
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Small and medium-sized enterprises are particularly vulnerable to the economic shocks that have buffeted the region in recent months. Any bank that serves these businesses needs to be acutely aware of the challenges they face and have deep experience across the region in how to deal with them.
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Banking in Europe remains a national sport, with only a handful of domestic champions also running large businesses beyond their home markets. Banco Santander is recognized as the region’s best bank this year as a reflection of its progress in moving operations in Portugal, Spain and the UK onto a single operating platform along with those in Poland, which it also includes in its Europe division.
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The financial inclusion skills within the bank are becoming more relevant for broader retail banking.
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The war in Ukraine has further highlighted the benefits of Banco Santander’s diversification across Europe and the Americas, according to executive chairman Ana Botín. However, its European home market may be a big disadvantage in Citi’s looming auction of Mexican lender Banamex.
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Public blockchains have been shown to allow near immediate settlement of new issues. Why aren’t the primary markets embracing them?
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JPMorgan is named the world’s best wealth manager in Euromoney’s latest private banking and wealth management survey. It is testament to the US bank’s global strength in serving the wealthiest families, along with its drive to constantly transform itself and boost diversity as it hires the most talented relationship managers in core markets.
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Non-bank lenders are offering growing volumes of embedded finance both wholesale to merchants selling on e-commerce marketplaces and to their retail customers.
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Executive chairman Ana Botín will be under pressure after adverse ruling in Madrid
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Covid barely dented the strength of the banking system and most banks have been steadily releasing the provisions they took. Euromoney talks to the leaders of our 25 reviewed banks and others about the challenges they face as the world normalizes.
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After years when the UK and the US banks were Santander’s problem children, those markets are now leading its recovery.
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Rising inflation expectations matter to the banking industry. Santander CEO José Antonio Álvarez explains, however, that negative real rates will probably persist for the next five or 10 years because of Covid.
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The Spanish group’s retail footprint makes it uniquely qualified to address unbanked, underbanked and financially vulnerable individuals.
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Financial innovation of the year 2021: EIB shows how security tokens may transform financial marketsEuromoney’s inaugural award for innovation goes to a groundbreaking issue of digital native tokens on a public blockchain in a syndicated bond deal that drew interest from 100 investors. While institutional money flows into crypto and DeFi, leading banks and issuers are now also keen to transform traditional markets with digital assets and digital cash.
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The big question remains when governments will return to fiscal consolidation. How will NPLs fare when taxpayer support is withdrawn is also in doubt.
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Santander, under the leadership of its group chief executive Jose Antonio Álvarez, was the first international bank to really focus on the small and medium-sized enterprise segment across the markets in which it operates.
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ESG has surged in importance as a financing theme in Latin America over the past 12 months. Financial institutions of all sizes and types have been scrambling to emphasize how the components of ESG are now core to business strategy. It’s often hard to see through the messaging, but that’s not the case with Santander. The bank is truly a leader in embedding sustainable finance in the business. Its group executive chairman Ana Botín has championed the bank’s net-zero carbon ambitions, but it’s under the leadership of Santander’s group chief executive, Jose Antonio Álvarez, that the bank has become a sustainability leader in Latin America.
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Santander has spent four years catching up with local and regional rivals that were quicker to adapt to mobile banking. In 2017 it saw itself as the leading bank in Spain but found its app ranked 13th in the country. The bank’s leaders, under executive chairman Ana Botín, realized they had to transform Santander and give key senior executives specific responsibility.
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The past year has shown how building a corporate and investment bank more equivalent to its standing in retail could be a vital prop to Santander’s earnings, especially in Europe. Does divisional head José Maria Linares now have the backing to match his ambitions?
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Less charismatic chief executives will serve Europe’s banks well in the 2020s – unless it simply means that more power will reside with their chairmen.
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The Spanish group’s rise to private banking prominence didn’t happen overnight. An internal merger helped, as did work integrating Europe and Latin America. The next step will be the biggest of all, as it begins a concerted push into the US.
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Wealth managers profited from the volatility of 2020. With the same beneficial gyrations unlikely in 2021, Victor Matarranz, global head of Santander Wealth Management and Insurance at Banco Santander, says the hard work starts now.
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Brazil’s fintechs and digital challenger banks are making more ground than traditional firms with the central bank’s new payments system.
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Covid-19 has hit the Spanish lender particularly hard, but the pandemic could spur a longer-term strategic shift.
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Selling its US bank to PNC fixes BBVA’s capital problem and allows it to consolidate in Spain. Arch-rival Santander’s similar troubles may be harder to solve.
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Covid-19 adds to the urgency of reorientating retail to e-commerce. Combining Openbank with consumer finance is the logical next step in Santander’s cloud-based banking transformation.
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As European bank consolidation finally gets under way, Euromoney looks at the financial firepower of the region’s top 20 players. Which banks are now best-placed to do the acquiring and which are at risk of being swallowed up? Mid-tier banks in southern Europe look especially vulnerable.
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Chile’s new financial portability law came into effect in September, providing a huge shot in the arm to financial innovation in Latin America’s most stable banking market.
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Rushing back to capital distributions won’t solve the sector’s deeper crisis.
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Covid-19 has given the Spanish bank an opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of a global SME franchise, even for clients without international operations.
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The breadth and ambition of Santander’s diversity and inclusion programmes set it apart from its peers globally.
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With lockdowns shuttering businesses across the continent, commitment to banking small and medium-sized enterprises has taken on even greater economic and social importance this year.
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Santander has been one of the most innovative groups in the world in its response to the Covid-19 outbreak, and its Polish subsidiary is no exception.
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Santander is Latin America’s best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises. Many banks have SME offerings but few, if any, use the segment so effectively as one of the fundamental drivers of its growth.
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BBVA is the big winner in Latin America in this year's Euromoney Awards for Excellence.
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Crédit Agricole takes the lead in Western Europe in this year's Euromoney Awards for Excellence.
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As Spain became one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus, Spanish banks were quick to pledge financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises.
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As card fraud, identity theft and cybercrime surge, international banks need cutting edge technology to protect the weak spots in their correspondent networks.
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Banks have been trying to rebuild trust since the global financial crisis. They have touted corporate responsibility and stakeholder capitalism as core tenets of their businesses. Covid-19 and the subsequent economic crisis will be a big test of their commitment.
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The bank reports record profits, loan growth and no advance provisioning while Bradesco and Itaú focus on risks ahead.
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The coronavirus crisis has hit Europe so hard and so suddenly that banks have to radically rethink their normal approaches to dealing with a crisis.
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Banks need to play their part in rescues without putting all the burden on shareholder funds, says Santander’s group executive chairman.
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The country’s biggest firms are doing all they can to bolster their reputation, as the nation faces a human and economic crisis brought on by Covid-19.
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Banks came into the coronavirus pandemic much stronger than they went into the global financial crisis, but will the capital and liquidity buffers they have built be sufficient to see them through the most dramatic economic crash in history?
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The gravitational pull of Latin America on Santander has resulted in the move to appoint Santander Brasil CEO Sergio Rial to the bank’s board as executive director.
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Freshly empowered European bank chairmen are making perplexing lurches as they search for new chief executives. A random CEO generator might help.
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Best Private Banking Services Overall Net-worth-specific services: Mega HNW (>$250m) UHNW (>$30mln-$250mln) HNW ($5mln-$30mln) Super Affluent ($1mln-$ 5mln) Capital Markets and Advisory ESG/Impact Investing Family Office Services International Clients Investment Management Next Generation Philanthropic Advice Research and Asset Allocation Advice Serving Business Owners Data Management and Security Innovative or Emerging Technology Adoption
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With Santander Brasil registering record profits and Santander Mexico promising the same, the outlook for the group looks Latin. As its European business stalls, how will the bank be affected by Latin America’s shift from engine of growth to core business?
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Report says they must cut costs by 10%; years of 20%+ ROE are coming to an end.
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Lights, camera, reaction: Santander chairman Ana Botín opens up on TV.
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Spain’s biggest bank is moving further away from its deal-making past, instead seeing a way forward for its troubled US and UK banks in payments and cloud technology.
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HSBC takes the top spot in Euromoney’s survey for the third year in a row.
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It’s 2020: welcome to the decade of low-cost Brazilian banking.
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Spanish bank profitability will sink even further as left-wing populists Podemos enter a coalition with the socialist party, making a private-sector future for Bankia ever more remote.
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Itaú overtakes state-controlled Banco do Brasil to become the largest lender.
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Santander targets US retail deposits, as Goldman's Marcus finds online lending tougher than expected.
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European bank shares have sunk to levels not seen since 2008, and even some of the region’s bank CEOs admit it is hard to make a compelling investment case for them. Euromoney speaks to the people at the top about their potential to re-emerge as global leaders.
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European banks don’t have a continental market, right? Wrong. Even if they cannot do full-blown mergers, the cross-border consolidation of specific business lines offers a way of gaining some of the economies of scale that US and Chinese banks enjoy.
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The Trade Club Alliance, a new 14-bank partnership to match SME exporters and importers, reflects greater willingness among banks – especially in Europe – to work together against low-cost newcomers, while relinquishing their own global ambitions.
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Banks’ track record on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, the growth driver of the economy, remains a mixed one in Europe.
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Despite the headwinds for region’s banks, there were some outstanding performances that demonstrate what can be achieved without macroeconomic support. The best example of this was Santander Brasil, Latin America’s best bank.
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DBS named world’s best bank in Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2019; JPMorgan is the world’s best investment bank; Erste’s Treichl recognized as banker of the year.
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Regulate big tech or deregulate banks.
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Master of the merger of the 2000s.
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From Deutsche Bank to Santander or ING, banks in Europe need to change with the times and accept accountability to a wider public, represented by their governments: as with weak capital, deficient ethics will only entail greater state control.
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The region’s leading banks produce some of the best numbers in the global industry, and success in retail banking – and a hard-learned approach to risk management – are core; could the growth of digital banking bring a new era of change?
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The bizarre communications management of the announcement prompts more head shaking than the actual event itself.
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UBS Wealth Management voted best global private bank; private banks expect revenues to grow, but at slower pace.
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Branch closures in the name of digitalization, on top of wider woes in the retail sector, could exacerbate the kind of community breakdown that led to Brexit.
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Spanish-based group will struggle to overcome fall-out of recruitment U-turn, while Orcel’s situation raises broader questions for banks’ hiring and compensation strategies.
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Banco Santander’s board has botched the appointment of the bank's next CEO in the clumsiest way possible.
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Investors will be watching closely for indications of what Andrea Orcel will do as chief executive.
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Santander’s Brazilian bank took lots of deserved acclaim when Santander released its global third-quarter results, but keep an eye on Mexico.
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Large numbers of domestic retail shareholders mean that public ill-will in Spain hurts Santander and BBVA just as much as other more domestic-focused lenders.
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Asset management is one of the few opportunities European banks have for growth and good returns, but regulation is challenging the captive market and margins are falling. Can banks build their own versions of the low-cost US fund management firms – or are these few remaining crown jewels heading the same way as their investment banks?
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Jon Macaskill profiles the two new co-heads of investment banking at UBS.
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A new CEO at the Spanish group was not expected, and neither was the name of the appointee. What will Andrea Orcel bring, and why did chairman Ana Botín turn to him?
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From the United Nations and the European Commission to customers and shareholders, the world’s banks face increasing pressure not only to consider their broader role in society but also to take actions that have a positive impact on it. There is no doubt that most chief executives take this challenge seriously. Whether they take it far enough remains to seen.
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One year on from a reboot, Openbank has doubled customers and is making a profit
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Bank chief executives in Europe are increasingly obsessed with their new or rebooted digital arms. These businesses promise to fend off new competitors and capture a next generation of clients, while piloting front- and back-office innovations. They could even offer the best chance of expanding in the eurozone, making banking union a reality. But will these investments merely play into the hands of the new rivals and hasten the banks’ decline?
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Regulatory changes to Brazil’s positive credit bureau open way for fintech start-up; better data predicted to lead to lower cost credit and GDP growth.
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Markets take Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Amlo) victory in stride; analysis shows Santander could outperform under next administration.
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Bank of America and Citi win top prizes; Credit Suisse’s Tidjane Thiam is named Banker of the Year; Asian banks make their mark in global awards.
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The bank that has led the way over the last year is Banco Santander, western Europe’s best bank. Santander is already one of the few big banks to prove that internationally diversified retail banks can be more profitable and more stable than domestically focused peers. Now it is in its rightful place, not just Spain’s biggest bank but also the one with the biggest domestic share.
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Pimco and Anchorage subpoena the Spanish bank for information to support their case in the EU General Court and criminal proceedings in Madrid.
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Sharp reduction in Selic boosted 2017 profitability but is a challenge in 2018; ‘soft’ recovery in credit demand might not offset lower margins.
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UBS Wealth Management voted best global private bank; private banks more bullish on revenues; hiring to increase.
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While other parts of finance splinter and specialize, in wealth management it looks like bigger really does mean better: UBS wins Euromoney’s Private Banking 2018 survey yet again and the big global franchises continue to take the lion’s share of the industry.
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Ana Botín and her team are taking advantage of Europe's restructuring of its banking sector
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GDP growth expected to drive acceleration in credit demand; Santander Chile’s CFO expects BBVA to sell to Scotia.
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The Single Resolution Board was wrong to wholly redact the Spanish bank’s valuation report but it will fight hard to keep its workings as opaque as possible.
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The UK Treasury’s plan to boost SME banking competition by paying RBS customers to go elsewhere doesn’t make sense if they are simply pushed into the arms of another huge, global player.
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The speed with which Santander took on Popular has boosted confidence in the recovery of Spain’s economy and banks, but what are the implications of its high provisions for Popular’s NPLs in a banking system still awash in problem loans?
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Santander’s takeover of Banco Popular was certainly in the public interest, but did it break EU law?
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Volume key for profitability as banking market normalizes; flurry of equity deals to fuel M&A and organic growth.
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Short-term factors driving strong improvements in earnings and ROE; revenues the issue next year as credit demand remains weak.
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Bank’s IB division up to third in rankings in first half of 2017; IB head Leao says there is “still a lot more to come”.
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A big depositor run in Spain spells trouble for some – but the country’s biggest bank thinks it has spotted an opportunity.
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Renegotiated and restructured debt lengthening NPL cycle; Bradesco and Santander to benefit most from better cost of risk.
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Austria’s best bank notched its best result to date last year on the back of a recovery in its emerging Europe operations. But while the group’s international network tended to grab the headlines, the domestic business also put in another strong showing.
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Euromoney names HSBC as the World’s Best Bank and Morgan Stanley as the World’s Best Investment Bank; UniCredit’s chief executive Jean Pierre Mustier wins Banker of the Year award.
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The best bank transformation of the year award goes to Santander Brasil.
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Over the last year Latin American politics has bubbled over to dominate the region’s economies. Venezuela has been brought close to the edge of collapse by a dysfunctional populist regime that clings to power through the continuing loyalty of its military. The failure of Venezuela’s neighbours to produce a regional response to president Nicolas Maduro’s increasingly repressive regime reflects widespread problems of their own.
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Two years into its small and medium-sized enterprise initiative, the bank is working hard at its focused sector offering. It is paying off.
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The Argentine banking system is beginning to return to a semblance of normality, with signs such as positive interest rates. But the road back to international standards is a long one. After many years of economic dysfunction and highly prescriptive banking regulations (including mandatory lending to segments and floors and caps on interest rates), it will take a long time for an orthodox banking sector to appear.
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Both AT1 and tier-2 investors lost everything when Banco Santander rescued Banco Popular, while senior bondholders were untouched. The rescue has shown that when banks in Europe get into trouble it is liquidity, not capital, that matters and that the fate of subordinated bondholders is anything but predictable.
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The bank has lagged behind its retail-focused competitors in Europe and Latin America. That is changing, senior management say. The Spanish group is pursuing new growth and diversification – from fintech investments to core-banking experiments and new online platforms.
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Credit Suisse switches to outperform rating; Santander expected to quickly close the profitability gap with its peers.
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Santander Brasil lost out to rivals Itaú and Bradesco as other foreign banks put their businesses on the block. It might not be a bad thing. The bank is the momentum story in a tough market. But just how far can it grow?
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More than 2,000 private banks took part in the 2017 Euromoney private banking survey. See who’s up and who’s down globally, regionally and by country.
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The world seems to be turning away from globalization and towards protectionism. Yet despite this challenging environment for trade, the bankers who finance it remain surprisingly upbeat.
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Santander’s buyback of its asset management arm seems characteristically erratic, but opportunism has its advantages.
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While HSBC scores a notable double in Euromoney’s annual global rankings, the record response rate of almost 35,000 validated votes generated a host of changes at the upper end of our cash management survey. Regional banks move to the fore and some previous global leaders have dropped back.
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Almost 35,000 companies and financial institutions vote, a record response rate; HSBC wins globally for both client sectors; and there are big changes at the upper end of cash management survey, with regional banks to the fore and some once global leaders dropping back.
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Results index Santander wins the award for best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises in Latin America. The bank is reaping the rewards of its commitment to the sector after it launched a global platform for SMEs.
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Euromoney names BNP Paribas as the world’s best bank and HSBC the world’s best investment bank for 2016; BBVA’s Francisco González is banker of the year and completes a great night for Europe.
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Akbank wins best bank in central and eastern Europe; Citi retains best investment bank in the region; UniCredit is best financing house for 2016.
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Banking in Argentina has been challenging in recent years. Increasingly stringent regulation has required banks to lend to certain segments at capped interest rates, while high inflation has complicated other transactional business. The banking system has, by and large, coped well with the poor business environment, and now (in private) bankers are optimistic about the money to be made in the country – from mortgages and retail lending to corporate loans, securitizations and capital markets.
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Banco de Credito del Peru is named as the best bank in the region; Citi retains investment banking award.
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The bank’s approach to SMEs is different and successful: it is international in scope and looks to help companies beyond just lending.
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Results index Santander Private Banking wins the award for best bank for wealth management in Latin America due in large part to its ability to connect clients using a team of experts across the investment bank, commercial bank and investment management.
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BNP Paribas wins region’s best bank award and is named best bank for transaction services and wealth management in western Europe; Barclays takes best investment bank title; ING, Santander and CaixaBank win inaugural regional awards in digital, CSR and SME categories respectively; ABN Amro stages the best bank transformation.
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Results index It is encouraging to find many European banks getting involved in the lynchpin of the European economy, small and medium-sized enterprises. In its German business, for example, Commerzbank has reoriented its global network towards internationally orientated Mittelstand clients (even if many of these are much bigger than the EU’s definition of an SME). Intesa Sanpaolo has improved methods of ensuring its SME loan growth in Italy is sustainable by identifying top-performing larger companies and then seeking to grow market share among those firms’ SME suppliers.
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Santander Mexico’s new CEO faces the challenge of evolving a business, while his predecessor keeps watch from the boardroom.
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Extended results can be viewed here.
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Trade Finance Survey 2016 full results Global 2016 2015 1 1 Deutsche Bank 2 2 UniCredit 3 3 Citi 4 4 HSBC 5 5 Commerzbank 6 14 Société Générale 7 12 RBS 8 6 Standard Chartered 9 20 ING 10 10 Santander
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Deutsche Bank retains its position as the leading global trade-finance bank in this year’s Euromoney survey. The German bank and overall runner-up UniCredit also dominated the results by region and by product.
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Santander puts corporate and social responsibility at the heart of its culture. The bank undertakes a wide range of initiatives supporting higher education, sustainable communities and the environment and climate change.
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It is the biggest and the best bank in a troubled market. The bank almost got an IPO away in 2011 before Argentina’s economy turned. The market hasn’t improved since then. But rather than sit and wait it out, the bank is investing heavily to be in the best possible shape when – if – the political and economic outlook improves.
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On January 8, Santander took a volatile equity market by surprise, raising €7.5 billion ($8.9 billion) through an accelerated bookbuild, the largest such deal on record in the European equity capital markets.
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Ana Botín has revamped the board of Santander, appointed a new management team and overseen a large and market-testing equity raise that reverses the capital-light policy of her father. Four months into the job, the new executive chairman now has the biggest challenge of all in her sights: achieving strong growth in a banking sector notable for its almost total absence
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Best private banking services overall
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UBS pushed into second place; majority of private banks globally expect improved revenues in 2015.
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You’d have thought the new CEO of Santander needed little introduction. But Ana Botín’s advisers have played a cannily surgical game… so far.
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European financial markets were shaken in September by the sudden death of Emilio Botín, the chairman of Banco Santander.
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View full results index
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Botín, the chairman of Santander, was a once-in-a-generation banker, who not only transformed Santander but stood out for his love of an industry in which he made his fortune.
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Ever since Banco Santander was named Euromoney’s bank of the year for 2012, I have been keeping a wary eye on the Spanish lender, which is also Europe’s largest bank. The share price bottomed at approximately €4 around the time of the award. This was the same level reached in March 2009. Since last July, Santander shares rose, phoenix-like, to nearly €6.50 in late January 2013, before falling back a bit. Interestingly, the chart of Santander’s stock price is similar to that of the overall Spanish market (the IBEX 35) which is probably not surprising.
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One of the big equity themes in Latin America in 2012 was that issuance from companies outside Brazil, and from Mexico in particular, enjoyed a strong year. Santander Mexico’s $4.1 billion IPO is one of the deals of the year because of its size and its secondary markets performance. In a domestic market dominated by foreign banks, Santander’s local listing is an important development for the bank and the market. It was the third-largest IPO in the world in 2012 and the second-largest-ever SEC-registered IPO by a Latin American issuer (behind Santander Brazil’s 2009 IPO). It also performed very well in the secondary markets. Contrasting with the two larger IPOs in 2012 – those of Facebook and Japan Airlines – the deal was trading up after five days and is still above the launch price (by 13%) at the time of going to press. Speaking to Euromoney immediately after the deal launched, underwriters said Santander, which was left lead, would have lost some of the large bids from long-only accounts had it tried to move the price above the middle of the range. It therefore opted to price at the middle of its Ps29 to Ps33 range to generate Ps52.81 billion. The global marketing effort incorporated anchor sales to sovereign wealth funds and a 14-day roadshow schedule, with three teams visiting 384 investors in 24 cities.
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Priced to support post-deal performance; Mexican equity story outshines Brazil’s
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It’s never quiet in UK banking these days. In a fitting episode of handbags at dawn, Ana Botín, the chief executive of Santander UK, reneged on an agreement to buy 316 branches from RBS. The provisional sale agreement had been signed in the summer of 2010 when António Horta-Osório was running Santander UK. Santander wanted to expand its penetration of the small-business market and was prepared to pay £1.65 billion to do so.
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Amid all the gloom around the difficulty for small businesses of raising bank funding, Euromoney is delighted to receive notification that Tortilla – a chain of fast-casual restaurants selling Californian-Mexican food in various City locations, including Canary Wharf, Leadenhall Market and Bankside – has just negotiated a £2.25 million loan from Santander Corporate bank to fund its continued expansion.
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Santander is taking a gamble that market volatility will not return in September at levels that could call off the planned initial public offering (IPO) of its Mexican subsidiary.
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Santander’s 2010 acquisition of a 70% stake in Poland’s Bank Zachodni put it in a strong position in Europe’s most resilient economy. Now, in a smart all-share deal, the Spanish bank is adding Kredyt Bank to its Polish portfolio.
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In July Euromoney’s 2012 Awards for Excellence dinner in London was attended by 500 people. The evening raised £482,595 for Amref and Orbis, charities working towards eliminating blinding trachoma in the south Omo area of southern Ethiopia
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Santander continues to confound its sceptics and produce impressive returns for two main reasons: the diversity of its business, and the simple fact that is a very well run bank.
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Santander and Deutsche win main prizes at Euromoney’s Awards for excellence; Standard Chartered’s Sands named Banker of the year; Banks raise £482,595 for charity project in Ethiopia
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All Spanish banks have been dragged down by their home country’s financial crisis. In Santander’s case, it’s not by nearly as much as you probably think. The bank’s diversified geographic mix has enabled it to continue to generate exceptional earnings. Its model of subsidiaries has been shown to work. Isn’t it about time the markets saw through the clouds of crisis and realized what Santander actually is?
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Santander spends huge sums promoting its brand in the glorified world of Grand Prix racing. It sponsors races across continents. Its chairman Emilio Botín is often seen in the pit lane.
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The Spanish bank began its systematic wealth-management strategy in Latin America in 2007. It has paid off handsomely in our latest survey. But other banks are pushing hard to beat it.
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“One-off” Santander swap rings alarm bells over health of bank
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Santander cashes out in Chile; HSBC puts up Losango
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As Banco Santander prepares to sell a near 8% stake in its Chilean business, Euromoney Skew reveals that it is a sign of the times in Latin America
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Region contributes 43% of group income; Argentine unit prepares for IPO
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Latin America could account for half of Santander’s total profits within three years, with Brazil, Mexico and Chile leading the way, says a senior executive at the Spanish bank.
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Santander Investment, JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are the mandated bookrunners for a potential $100 million IPO of Santander’s Argentine subsidiary.
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Part of south-south trade flow trend; More such deals are likely
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CLS has announced that Banco Santander has become a settlement member of CLS Bank, bringing the total number of members to 61.
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When Santander Chile priced a $1.2 billion triple-tranche bond in September, one of the tranches was a 10-year peso bond, worth an equivalent $500 million. It was the region’s first Europeso corporate bond since the global financial crisis and an illustration of how investors, especially from overseas, want to capture the yield and carry from Latin America’s local assets.
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Spanish bank buys BofA’s minority stake; Valuation now $10 billion
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Analysts say forbearance disguises scale of bad debt problem; Santander insists its own stress tests give it confidence
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Santander has been one of the winners of the credit crunch. Its chief executive, Alfredo Sáenz, believes the bank’s success has been due to sticking to a model that was appropriate through the cycle. Euromoney asks him how the bank is adapting to pressures from the market and the regulators.
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Balance sheet strengthened to create billions in economic capital; IPO of 15% of Brazilian operation weighed
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Setubal wants to buy outside Brazil; Barbosa confident that Santander Real merger will be complete within a year
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The basics don’t change.
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Among the delegates at the 2008 Felaban conference in Panama City were two senior members of the fixed-income department at Santander, named best bank in Euromoney’s 2008 Awards for Excellence in July. The Spanish bank sent Dan Vallimarescu (head of DCM) and Erik Deiden (senior VP) to the conference but unfortunately managed to book their trip so late that the best hotels available were not exactly Panama’s finest.
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The credit crisis has, so far, raised Santander’s relative standing among its peers, as the Spanish bank has sidestepped some of the pitfalls of its rivals and picked up a few bargain acquisitions. The bank’s reputation for savvy deal-making has also been enhanced, making it surely one of the most sought after financial sector clients for any investment bank.
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The chief executives of 11 of the world's biggest banks discuss the lessons they have learnt from the global financial crisis, their concerns over a regulatory backlash, and how they plan to rebuild profitability in the toughest markets in history.
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As foreign banks – with the notable exception of Santander – draw in their horns, local mid-tier banks are racing to take advantage of the domestic boom in Brazil. Chloe Hayward reports.
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In 2004 Santander had looked at ABN Amro as an entire business but decided it was not interested in a deal. Botín told his board at the time that the only parts of ABN that Santander might be interested in were its Brazil and Italy operations.
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Alliance & Leicester is the latest rabbit that Emilio Botín has pulled out of his hat as Santander continues its inexorable rise. Botín has now cemented his reputation for being a dealmaker as well as one of the most talented retail bankers in history. What else does he have up his sleeve? Clive Horwood reports.
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Emilio Botín, chairman of Santander, Euromoney’s Best Bank in the World 2008, passes on some good advice to fellow bankers.
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Santander chairman Emilio Botín accepts the award presented to the bank 10 July – watch the video footage
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Banco Santander in Brazil has named Banco Real chairman Fabio Barbosa as the new head of the Spanish bank’s businesses in Brazil. Barbosa will take up this new role when Banco Real is legally separated from ABN Amro. Gabriel Jaramillo, the current country head of Santander in Brazil, will "provide advice and support to the office of the chairman of Santander". Jaramillo’s post will be filled temporarily by Jose Paiva until Barbosa takes over the combined operations.
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Banco Santander has completed the sale of its Spanish corporate property portfolio through a series of sale-and-leaseback transactions. The deals, executed over seven months, brought more than €4.3 billion into the bank’s coffers, €1.681 billion of which was a capital gain. The sale of the bank’s Madrid headquarters, Boadilla del Monte, to Propinvest was worth €1.9 billion on its own, making it one of the largest deals to be done in Spain.
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The bank played a masterstroke by recouping almost half the outlay for its share of ABN Amro before the sale had gone through – and keeping the prized assets.
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Daniel Bouton of Société Générale, Baudouin Prot of BNP Paribas, Walter Rothensteiner of Raiffeisen Zentralbank and Alfredo Sáenz of Santander speak about the challenges in the new financial world order.
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Grupo Santander, winner of Euromoney’s award for best bank in Latin America, has revealed plans to double its Latin American banking business with a $4 billion investment over the next three years. The region is a cash cow for Santander, which realized $787 million of profits in the first quarter, a 47% increase.
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Jorge Maortua, deputy head of global wholesale banking for Grupo Santander and the group’s head of treasury services, is running a fast-growing business. Perhaps more important, his division, while finding alternatives to traditional low-margin lending, is building key relationships with the bank’s clients, including small and medium-size enterprises.
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Grupo Santander is often considered to be among the sharpest of borrowers, and it certainly has one of the biggest profiles. José Antonio Soler, who has run its funding operation for a year and a half, talks to Alex Chambers about the group’s quest for new pools of capital and its developing issuance strategy.
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Search the results Santander’s private banking operation wants to grow its business in Latin America by 20% annually over the next three years
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Covered bond issuers are increasingly clear about the merits of solid execution, as Santander's and DexMa's latest deals show.
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Santander's retail banking specialists' biggest challenge to date will be to turn around the fortunes of Abbey. Can the Spanish bank's model be successfully applied to the highly competitive UK market?
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Santander is one of the most remarkable stories in modern banking. Even the group's highly-ambitious chairman, Emilio Botín, is amazed at how the bank has grown from a small Spanish domestic bank to a place in the global top 10 in just 20 years. He reveals the strategy that has made Santander what it is today.
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As it looks to keep pace with rival Banco Santander, Spanish bank BBVA is setting its growth sights on the Hispanic market in the US - at the outset Mexicans in California and Texas - rather than Europe.
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As Euromoney goes to press, Santander is set to take over the UK's Abbey National, propelling the Spanish bank into the frontline of European retail banking. But the past won't go away for Santander chairman Emilio Botín. The Spanish courts have ruled that he has serious charges to answer. At the same time minority shareholders who harangue him at Santander's AGM are planning to put their case to Abbey investors in London. Ben Sills reports from Madrid.
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Emilio Botín knew that launching a frontal assault on the UK banking market was never going to be a bed of roses. But the 70-year-old chairman of Grupo Santander, Spain's largest bank, and his team were knocked for six by the furore that was unleashed in response to their £8 billion-plus bid for Abbey, the sick man of British banking.
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The brainchild of Santander's chairman, Emilio Botín, Santander Group City is set to become Europe's largest corporate headquarters. But not everyone at the bank is happy to embrace a US-style working culture. Jules Stewart reports.
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You don't become chairman of Santander Central Hispano, Spain's largest bank, and the undisputed don of Spanish finance, if you're easily flustered. But Emilio Botín is something else. He was quizzed recently by Spanish journalists about how he felt about the 150-year jail sentence he's facing for alleged tax fraud. Serene, he told them.
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Banco Santander Central HispanoAmount: £1.3 billionAnnounced: November 29 2002
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The continuing success of the bank now known as Santander Central Hispano in growing profit, forging alliances elsewhere in Europe and taking major market shares in Latin America is a tribute to the skills of the two banks that came together to form it. But behind this public face the marriage of two distinct banking cultures has not come easy.
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A giant advertisement is being pasted on to a billboard sign along one of Mexico City's urban motorways. In bright red colours, the promotion offers to help change your life.
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The Spanish have proved themselves masters of the bank merger. Successfully integrating two differing cultural entities, the merged Banco Santander Central Hispano has within a year become a European force to be reckoned with. Neighbours take note.
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The virtual roundtable
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This year, Euromoney's Awards for Excellence are broader in scope than ever before. A number of new categories have been introduced to reflect changes in the structure of international markets.