CEO of Santander in Portugal, new regional manager in Europe

Santander Bank has agreed to appoint Pedro Castro e Almeida, the current CEO of its Portuguese branch, as the new regional manager for Europe, the entity said on Thursday. Castro e Almeida will replace António Simões, who is leaving the bank to become CEO of Legal and General Group, a UK-based insurance and asset management company.

The appointment will take effect on September 1, until which date Simões will retain his current responsibilities.

In his new role, Castro e Almeida will be responsible for Santander’s operations in Europe (banks in Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland and Portugal) and for leading the transformation in the region, reporting to Group CEO Hector Grisi.

The bank’s new regional head in Europe joined Santander Portugal in 1993, where he served as CEO for five years. “During that period, the bank underwent a major transformation, simplifying and automating operational tasks, and became the most efficient and profitable entity in the country,” the entity points out.

For his part, António Simões joined the bank in 2020 and, under his leadership, the savings bank advanced in the integration of its activities in Europe and in building One Santander. “All this resulted in an increase in ordinary profit in Europe from 1,138 million euros in 2020 to 3,810 in 2022, a trend that continued in the first quarter of 2023, with a profit increase of 19% at the annual level. “, the entity pointed out.

Likewise, the bank emphasized that the profitability of the region went from 3% in 2020 to 13% in the first quarter of 2023, thanks to the growth of the franchise, whose customer base increased by one million in the last year.

The president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín, appreciated the appointment of Castro e Almeida and thanked Simões for his work. “Pedro has done a great job leading Portugal’s Santander. With him at the helm, customer satisfaction, efficiency and profitability have improved significantly,” said Botín, who added that Castro e Almeida is “the ideal person to lead Europe and continue the good work” Simões has done with One Santander.

For his part, Castro e Almeida was “very excited” about the opportunity to lead Santander’s European operations. “In recent years, we have made great strides in building One Santander in the region and we have an outstanding team. We will continue to work towards the achievement of the goals that the group set for itself at the last Investor’s Day,” he added.