UBS Executive Joins Santander as CEO -- WSJ
September 26 2018 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Margot Patrick and Jeannette Neumann
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (September 26, 2018).
Banco Santander SA named UBS Group AG's Andrea Orcel as its new
CEO, propelling one of Europe's highest-profile investment bankers
to the helm of a global banking giant.
Santander said Mr. Orcel will take over early next year from
José Antonio Álvarez, who has been in the job since 2015. Mr.
Álvarez will become vice chairman of the Santander group and
executive chairman for Santander Spain, the bank said.
The search for a new CEO was sparked after Rodrigo Echenique,
who currently holds those two executive roles, announced his
retirement in June, a person familiar with the matter said. Mr.
Orcel wasn't initially identified as a candidate but he became the
obvious choice once considered for the job, the person said.
Mr. Orcel is joining a banking giant he helped to create. For
years he was the go-to investment banker for former Santander
Chairman Emilio Botín, working on deals such as the Spanish bank's
2004 purchase of Britain's Abbey National PLC and acquisition of
ABN Amro NV with two other banks just before the 2008 financial
crisis.
"Andrea has worked closely with us for the past two decades, in
the development and execution of our strategy, and understands and
is aligned with the Santander culture," Santander Chairman Ana
Botín said in a statement.
The appointment of Mr. Orcel came as a surprise to analysts and
others who watch the bank closely.
People who have worked with him describe him as a demanding
leader who isn't always open to criticism but gets the job done.
Mr. Orcel couldn't immediately be reached for comment. In a
statement he said he is proud and excited to join Santander,
calling it a "winning organization" that is embracing change.
Santander is one of the world's largest retail banks, focusing
on selling mortgages, consumer loans and bank accounts to hundreds
of thousands of customers around the world. Mr. Orcel, by contrast,
is a longtime investment banker with no experience managing a
retail bank. Santander's investment banking unit is a minor part of
its overall banking business.
As a global bank, though, with operations in Brazil, the U.K.,
the U.S. and elsewhere, the polished Mr. Orcel adds a dose of
international experience and cachet to Santander.
Mr. Orcel will join as Santander is due to give a strategy
update for the next few years. The bank has sought to cut overall
costs while increasing investment in digital banking and
automation. Its U.S. business, concentrated in retail and
commercial banking in the Northeast, is aiming to grow further by
tapping corporate customers who are already Santander clients in
other parts of the world.
The Italian-born banker has also had a view into the inner
workings of other financial firms, spending 20 years at Merrill
Lynch advising banks and other institutions before leaving in 2012
to join UBS as investment bank head in another surprise departure.
There, he helped oversee a streamlining of the investment bank,
which had ballooned in size through aggressive expansion before the
financial crisis hit, and a strategic shift toward wealth
management.
Under Mr. Orcel's stewardship, the investment banking unit was
able to generate adjusted, pretax profit of 1.5 billion francs
($1.6 billion) in 2017.
Mr. Orcel is Santander's third chief executive since Ms. Botín
became executive chairman in 2014, following the death of former
Chairman Mr. Botín, her father. She had promoted Mr. Álvarez from
Santander's chief financial officer to CEO, with a focus on shoring
up the bank's capital levels and expanding in Brazil to offset
concerns about Santander's U.K. bank as Britain leaves the European
Union.
UBS named a pair of internal executives, Piero Novelli and
Robert Karofsky, as co-presidents of the investment bank effective
October 1.
Brian Blackstone contributed to this article.
Write to Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com and Jeannette
Neumann at jeannette.neumann@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 26, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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