Banco Santander Names José Antonio Álvarez CEO, Replacing Marín - Update

(RTTNews) - Spanish commercial bank Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN, BNC.L) Tuesday said it has appointed José Antonio Álvarez, currently chief financial officer, as CEO of the company, replacing Javier Marín.

José García Cantera, global head of the Santander Global Banking and Markets division will substitute Álvarez as CFO.

Further, Jacques Ripoll, head of Global Wholesale Banking in Santander UK, will replace Cantera. The appointments will take effect from January 1, 2015.

It was on April 29, 2013, that Banco Santander appointed Javier Marín Romano as chief executive, following voluntary resignation of Alfredo Sáenz Abad as vice chairman and chief executive officer.

Marín joined the Group in 1991 and was serving as senior executive vice president of the bank and head of the global insurance, asset management and private banking division.

The board of Banco Santander also approved the appointments of Bruce Carnegie-Brown, as first vice chairman and lead independent director of the board, Sol Daurella and Carlos Fernández as independent board directors, and Rodrigo Echenique, a current non-executive board member, as vice chairman.

The company said the three new independent directors will fill the vacancies left by the death of Emilio Botín and the resignation of Fernando de Asúa and Abel Matutes. Banco Santander Chairman Emilio Botín passed away in September this year.

In Madrid, Banco Santander shares are currently trading at 7.2 euros, up 1.5 percent, on a volume of 19.32 million shares.