Héctor Grisi to succeed José Antonio Álvarez as CEO of Banco Santander
The board of Banco Santander has announced that Héctor Blas Grisi Checa, currently CEO of Santander Mexico and head of North America, has been nominated to become Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a group director, effective 1 January 2023, subject to customary approvals.
Mr Grisi will report directly to the Board, in line with changes to the group’s management structure announced on 24 February 2022, with responsibility for managing all the group’s regions, countries and global businesses. The nomination has been made following a rigorous assessment process led by the Board Nominations Committee.
Mr Grisi will succeed José Antonio Álvarez who has been with the bank since 2002 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2004 then CEO in January 2015. Following the transition, Mr Álvarez will remain on the Board as non-executive vice chair.
Mr Grisi joined Santander in 2015 as CEO of Santander Mexico. Since then, he has completed a transformation of the bank’s business in the country, achieving an adjusted return on tangible equity of 31% as at 31 March 2022, growing the number of active customers by nearly 50% to close to 10 million and doubling the number of loyal customers, while establishing leading market position in SMEs, Mid-Market Corps, Mortgages and Project Finance.
In 2019, he was appointed head of the Santander group’s North America region, covering both Mexico and the US. In 2021, the US achieved a record year for profitability, generating $2.7 billion compared to $648 million in 2018, making the largest contribution to profit of any market in the group.
Mr Grisi’s professional career spans over 35 years. Before joining Santander, he spent 18 years at Credit Suisse, where he held a range of senior positions, including head of Investment Banking for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, then President & CEO of Credit Suisse Mexico. He was educated in Mexico and Canada and is a graduate of Iberoamericana University as BA in Finance.
Héctor Grisi said:
“I would firstly like to thank José Antonio for what he has done for the bank throughout his career, and the support he has provided me since the first day I joined. I am honoured to succeed him as CEO of Banco Santander and be offered the opportunity to build on what he, Ana, and the team have achieved. I firmly believe that Santander’s scale, diversification, and customer focus create opportunities for growth that are difficult for others to replicate. I am excited to get to work and have no doubt that we have the strategy, model and above all, the team, to create value for all our stakeholders and fulfil our potential.”
A process to identify a successor for Mr Grisi as CEO of Santander Mexico has begun.