Santander begins search for successor to CEO Jose Alvarez

Bloomberg

Banco Santander SA has begun the search for a successor to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jose Antonio Alvarez, the bank veteran who stayed on in the top position after the botched appointment of ex-UBS Group AG banker Andrea Orcel.
Santander Chairman Ana Botin and the board are seeking internal and external candidates after Alvarez — who has been in the position since November 2014 — communicated internally he plans to step down The search for a replacement is in the early stages and could take up to a year.
Possible internal candidates include ex-HSBC Holdings Plc and European head Antonio Simoes and wealth management head Victor Matarranz.
Alvarez was forced to stay in place as CEO after Santander abruptly reneged on the appointment of Orcel as its CEO in early 2019 after a dispute about compensating him for past bonuses of as much as $50 million. The Italian banker, who has since become CEO of UniCredit, and Santander have been locked in a legal battle ever since.
Santander recently reworked its management structure so that Alvarez no longer reports to Botin, in line with recommendations from the
European Central Bank.
Under the proposals, Alvarez will now report only to the board of directors, whereas before he also answered to Botin.
Botin, under the plans announced in February, remains as executive Chairman and will focus on leading the bank’s strategy, the statement said, adding that the reform was in line with “supervisory expectations.” Spanish website El Confidencial said the ECB wants better balance between chairpersons and CEOs at European banks.
Spain has long been an outlier in the region’s corporate governance, with duties between chair and chief executives often blurred. In general, the Frankfurt-based supervisor has pushed for governance reforms at lenders in the region to improve risk management and decision-making.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, the country’s second-largest bank, changed its structure in December 2018, when it named former CEO Carlos Torres as chairman, and the new CEO, Onur Genc, began by reporting only to the board.
Alvarez has helped steer the bank through the difficult period of the coronavirus, when the bank reported the first loss in its history.