Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola García de los Ríos, ''
iure uxoris''
Marquess of O'Shea (1 October 1934 – 10 September 2014) was a Spanish banker.
[Santander's chairman "Emilio Botin dies."]
BBC News. Retrieved 9 October 2014. He was the executive chairman of Spain's
Grupo Santander
Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centres ...
. In 1993 his bank absorbed Banco Español de Crédito (
Banesto), and in 1999 it merged with Banco Central Hispano creating
Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH), which became Spain's largest bank, of which he was co-president with Central Hispano's José María Amusategui, until Amusategui retired in 2002. In 2004, BSCH acquired the British bank
Abbey National
The Abbey National Building Society was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Abbey Road and the National building societies.
It was the first building society in the United Kingdom to demutualise, doing so in July 1989. The bank expanded throu ...
, making BSCH the second largest bank in Europe by market capitalisation. He was known for his obsession with growth and performance as well as regularly visiting branches.
Early life
Botín was born in
Santander,
Cantabria
Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the ea ...
, on the northern coast of Spain, the eldest of two sons of
Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola López , born on 18 January 1903, and Ana María García de los Ríos y Caller. After attending as a
boarding student the
Jesuit school of
Colegio de la Inmaculada, in
Gijón
Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cen ...
, he studied law and economics at the
University of Deusto in
Bilbao
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.
Career
In 1986 Botín, then aged 52, took over from his father as chairman of Santander, one of many banks that existed in Spain at the time. Botín was no newcomer to the banking world. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all bankers.
In 2005, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' put Emilio Botín's net worth at
$1.7 billion. Botín's eldest daughter,
Ana Patricia Botín, was the president of
Banesto from 2002 to November 2010 and was the CEO of
Santander UK from December 2010 until Emilio's death upon which she was elected his successor as executive chairman of Grupo Santander.
During his chairmanship, Banco Santander was named 2012 'Best bank in the world', the third time that the bank had received this award over the previous seven years.
Secret bank accounts
Botín and his family held undisclosed bank accounts in Switzerland since 1937. Those accounts were discovered by the Spanish tax authorities in 2010. Botín and his family voluntarily settled the case, paying a bill of €200 million. In 2012, Spain's High Court dropped a tax evasion probe for these issues, stating that Botín and his family had satisfied Spanish tax authorities with the €200 million settlement.
Personal life
Botín was married to the
Marchioness of O'Shea, and they had six children. His daughter Carmen was married to golfer
Seve Ballesteros
Severiano Ballesteros Sota (; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 inte ...
from 1988 to 2004.
He died on 9 September 2014, of a heart attack in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...
. Botín was survived by his six children and nineteen grandchildren.
Botin's eldest daughter
Ana Patricia Botín, previously head of Santander's British business, was appointed chairman after his death.
Notes
References
*
External links
Profile of Emilio BotínA survey considers Emilio Botín as the best Spanish valued CEO
Was Emilio Botín murdered?
*[http://www.abc.es/20120201/economia/abci-emilio-botin-empresario-espanol-201202011319.html Emilio Botín, the most influential Spanish businessman according to research: KAR 2011, Ipsos Public Affairs. ]
The Banker nombra al Santander 'banco del año' en Reino Unido, México, Polonia, Portugal, Argentina y Puerto Rico". ''expansion.com''. November 2012.
*[http://www.cuartopoder.es/economiainsostenible/el-robin-hood-del-hsbc-solo-consigue-que-los-bancos-redoblen-su-seguridad-interna/2091 How Botin's secret account was discovered. Online Article in Cuarto Poder (In Spanish)]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botin, Emilio
1934 births
2014 deaths
People from Santander, Spain
Businesspeople from Cantabria
Spanish billionaires
Spanish chairpersons of corporations
University of Deusto alumni
Spanish bankers
Members of the Board of Directors of the Banco Santander
Colegio de la Inmaculada (Gijón) alumni