MADRID (Reuters) -The Spanish bank Santander (BME:SAN) named Hector Grisi as its new CEO on Friday. He will take over for Jose Antonio Alvarez, who has been in charge for a long time.
The bank said that Grisi, who was born in Mexico and is 55 years old, will take over on January 1, 2019, pending the usual approvals.
Santander Executive Chairman Ana Botin said in a statement that Grisi’s “track record as CEO of Santander Mexico and head of North America speaks for itself and shows why we think he is the right person to lead the bank in the next phase of our transformation and growth.”
Botin has said that the lender would look for growth opportunities in Mexico, such as the possible purchase of Citigroup’s (NYSE: C) retail operation in Mexico. This is when Grisi was named as the new CEO.
The move, which was first reported by Bloomberg News, comes more than three years after the Spanish bank withdrew an offer to make Italian banker Andrea Orcel CEO, which was a rare and unexpected U-turn for such a high-level position.
Grisi was also the head of Credit Suisse’s investment banking from 1997 to 2001. From 2001 to 2015, he was the executive chairman and senior executive vice–president of Credit Suisse’s Mexican unit.