Emilio Botín

Emilio Botín
Emilio Botín in 2010
Born	Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola y García de los Ríos (1934-10-01) 1 October 1934 Santander, Spain
Residence	Somosaguas, Madrid, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Alma mater	University of Valladolid, University of Deusto
Occupation	Banker
Years active	(?-present)
Employer	Santander
Known for	Executive Chairman of Grupo Santander
Net worth	€1.1 billion [1]
Religion	Roman Catholic[citation needed]
Spouse(s)	Paloma O'Shea (?-present)
Children	Ana Patricia Botín O'Shea Carmen Botín O'Shea Carolina Botín O'Shea Paloma Botín O'Shea Javier Botín O'Shea Emilio Botín O'Shea

Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola y García de los Ríos, Marquis Consort of O'Shea, (born 1 October 1934) is a Spanish banker. He is the Executive Chairman of Spain's Grupo Santander. 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, making BSCH the second largest bank in Europe by market capitalisation. In July 2008 Santander was named the Best Bank in the World by Euromoney magazine. He is known for his obsession with growth and performance as well as regularly visiting branches.^[2]

Background and personal life

Botín, Marquis Consort of O'Shea, was born in Santander, Cantabria, on the northern coast of Spain, the eldest of two sons of Emilio Botín y Sanz de Sautuola, born in 18 January 1903, and Ana María García de los Ríos y Caller.^[3] After attending as a boarding student the Jesuit school of Colegio de la Inmaculada, in Gijón, he studied Law at the University of Valladolid in Valladolid and Economics at the University of Deusto in Bilbao. In 1986 Emilio Botín, then aged 52, took over from his father as president of the Banco de 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.^{[citation needed]}

Botín is married to Paloma O'Shea Artiñano, 1st Marquise of O'Shea, a patron of the arts; they have six children. His daughter Carmen was married to golfer Seve Ballesteros from 1988 to 2004.^[4]

Botín's favorite pastimes are hunting, fishing and golf. In 2005 Forbes put Emilio Botín's net worth at $1.7 billion.^{[citation needed]} Botín's eldest daughter, Ana Patricia Botín, was the President of Banesto from 2002 to November 2010 and is the CEO of Santander UK since December 2010, and widely viewed as his probable successor as President.^{[citation needed]}

Botin and his family held undisclosed bank accounts in Switzerland since 1937. Those accounts were discovered by the Spanish tax authorities in 2010. Botin and his family settled voluntarily the case paying a bill of €200 million. In 2012, Spain's High Court dropped a tax evasion probe for these issues, stating that Mr Botin and his family had satisfied Spanish tax authorities with the €200 million settlement.^[5]

During his presidency, Banco Santander has been named 2012 'Best bank in the world', the third time that the bank has received this award in the past seven years.^[6]

References

Bibliography

• Guillén, Mauro F.; Tschoegl, Adrian (2008). Building a Global Bank: The Transformation of Banco Santander. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13125-2.  Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)

External links

• Profile of Emilio Botín
• A survey considers Emilio Botín as the best Spanish valued CEO
• Emilio Botín repeats as most influential businessman in Spain
• Emilio Botín, the most influential Spanish businessman according the 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.</ref>
• New York Times Article_Tax Fraud Investigation on Botín
• How Botin's secret account was discovered. Online Article in Cuaro Poder (In Spanish)