Ana Botín Monday chaired its first meeting of Santander. / Atlas / Uly Martin
No explicitly referring to Emilio Botin like his father, but as “our former president”, Ana Botin, head of Santander maximum, has initiated an extraordinary meeting of shareholders a recognition of his work. “I want my words in this first general meeting to be a very special memory of our former president Emilio Botin memory. In nearly thirty years as president placed the first bank Santander eurozone and as one of the top ten banks in the world by market capitalization. “
The challenge has taken Ana Botin, who wore black and red scarf, suit is hard to beat. Maybe that’s why it has taken the board to notice to shareholders: “Continue the path of success in recent decades will not be easy. The new competitive environment and the regulatory environment are increasingly demanding. ” However, said the bank will have opportunities and takes up the challenge “with high confidence to carry out this task because I know well our teams, their commitment to Santander, high qualification and dedication to our customers.”
At 9:40 a.m. in the morning began the speech Ana Botin, just two days after the burial of his father. The event, held at the Palace of Congress of Santander, was attended by about 500 people and 52.2% of the capital. There was a heavy police presence outside the enclosure, without though they were not complaining. The new president was aware that there were many looks out for her financial world. With serene face and a cold voice, opened the meeting which approved the capital increase of 655 million shares (5.62% of total) to acquire 24.75% of the Brazilian subsidiary. But this was not the focus of attention, but to know the attitude and the letter of the new management group, present in 40 countries with nearly 200,000 employees and 3.3 million shareholders, attentive to what is happening now in the entity. “Continuity” was the word most repeated in his speech to scare theories on possible strategic approach swerving including investment banking.
Ana Botín started the speech with a description of the key management his father: Prudent risk, focus on retail banking and “agility to anticipate and take advantage of growth opportunities.” In another moment he added, “is about being close to customers and offer the best service.” He reaffirmed the group’s strategy. “My ambition is to keep this record of success to which I will devote most of my efforts,” he said.
Ana Botin said that the vision of his father has allowed Santander “no it’s only the biggest but the most diversified and stronger, as evidenced by its resistance throughout the financial crisis, one of only three major international organizations that has passed through the crisis without losses in a single quarter. ” At another point he said that geographic diversification “will be key to consolidating this new phase of growth,” and that in the future would be based on the capital base, strong balance sheet and ability to generate revenue “for sustainable development and growing” .
To avoid any doubts about his strategy, said: “We will continue in this line to strengthen the Santander culture, which is the basis for sustainable growth. My ambition is to keep this record of success. ” In the answers to shareholders, reaffirmed Javier Marín, as CEO. “‘ve Worked together for many years and will continue,” he said.
During the speech did not mention the maintenance of the dividend, a common theme in the speeches of the former president. Throughout the crisis, Santander has distributed 0.60 per share, despite the sharp drop of the result in some exercises. Occasionally, as in 2012, the bank earned half of what was distributed in dividends but pay shareholders because it allowed the authorities and that the 88% chose the payment in securities, not cash. A shareholder took the floor to ask specifically for the dividend policy, but has had no response. The only reference made the speech was that the repurchase of Brazil “will be very good for shareholders because it will boost earnings per share by 1.3%.”
The president of Santander did not rating on the economic policy of the Government or the situation, as was also common in other appointments. For the group, said that until September, “the positive trends in the evolution of the group’s results are confirmed.” He highlighted the decline in the cost of credit and the decline in delinquencies in the group and in Spain.
Ana Botín defended to shareholders a proposal to increase capital to take over the part of the Brazilian subsidiary that do not control and made clear that “no way calls into question the group’s policy to have listed subsidiaries.” This responds to the views of some experts who believe that reverse given in Brazil, where the shares repurchased placed five years ago, questioned the possible upcoming IPOs of subsidiaries in the United Kingdom or the United States.
On Brazil’s president is optimistic because there are “good prospects” of the bank for its economic development. He winked at Dilma Rousseff’s government, with which the bank had a recent controversy over a hard one analyst report, and said that Brazil has “strong institutions”. He insisted that the operation “demonstrates our confidence in the ability of Banco Santander Brazil to boost its outcome,” which currently represents 20% of the attributable profit of the group.
Some shareholders criticized the operation and they used the board to show the problems with the issue of “Valores Santander” by the lack of information as well as those arising for customers by Banif Real Estate Fund, and mortgage loans sold by the subsidiary UCI. These issues are in the courts. They demanded a change of attitude of the bank over in the chair. The ten shareholders who took their condolences on the death of Emilio Botin and his daughter appreciated the words of condolence while denied allegations of poor marketing of these products and promised “a bank closer to the people, but we are very large “. He concluded by reaffirming the continuity and recalling a key issue in management: the exchange price. “In the seven years of crisis, the total return to shareholders was 15% compared with a fall of 51% in the European bank index. We do it better than our international competitors, “he said.
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