New direction: Santander chairman Ana Botin wants to beef up the firm’s investment banking division
Santander is beefing up its investment bank by hiring at least 50 bankers. Spain’s biggest bank is best-known for its retail operations in Latin America and Europe – including in the UK.
But it wants to become a bigger player in investment banking under chairman Ana Botin, who previously worked for JP Morgan.
The expansion will involve hiring bankers, many from stricken Credit Suisse, according to Reuters. More than 20 have already been recruited, chiefly in the United States, with further hiring due to take place in Britain and Spain.
In the US, the number of staff employed at its corporate and investment banking business has climbed from about 500 at the end of 2019 to around 900, helped by the acquisition of fixed-income broker Amherst Pierpont.
In Britain, staff count has risen from 350 to around 700 in the same period.
