SANTANDER Bank boss Ana Botín has been named the 'world's most powerful woman' by Fortune magazine in its latest annual '50 Most Influential Women', where she shares the podium with GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley and Gree Electric Appliances chair Dong Mingzhu.
Ana Botín has returned to her number one spot after dropping to second a year ago, with Fortune commenting on the 'progress' she has made since taking over as chairwoman in 2014 in 'reinforcing the bank's capital', 'increasing customer loyalty' – with the client base having grown by 40% since 2015 – and 'digitalising platforms', with the number of online banking customers having risen to 32 million by the end of 2018.
Fortune refers to the 'solid global effort' made by Santander bank in 2018, with a turnover of over €48.4 billion.
“This growth has been achieved largely thanks to the bank's activity in Latin America – mainly Brazil and México – and has been supported by a reduction in costs in Europe,” the article states.
Ana Botín's being named as 'world's most powerful woman' comes on the fifth anniversary, almost to the date, of her taking over running Banco Santander, which broke into the UK in 2004 by buying up Abbey National.
According to Sra Botín herself in a presentation for shareholders this week in London, profits have risen by 87% in these five years, reaching €7.8bn, whilst its profitability on the RoTE scale has risen by 210 points, to 11.7%.
Additionally, Santander group has reinforced its level of CET1 Fully Loaded capital to 11.3%, an increase of 350 points, also in the last five years.
The '50 Most Influential Women' list has become a barometer for female influence in business and major corporations – according to Fortune, only 14 women were at the head of the boardroom table in the largest 500 companies in the world, although this is a slight increase on the previous year, when there were just 12.
A third of the women in the top 50 are new entries this year, having been placed at the head of large multi-national firms, and include Jessica Tan, CEO of China's Ping An Group; Ilham Kadri, CEO of the Belgian chemical company Solvay, and Emma Fitzgerald of Puma Energy, one of the biggest companies in Singapore.
Women who have recently been promoted within their existing firms are also featured – Andrea Marques de Almeida, CEO of Brazilian fuel giant Petrobras; Anne Rigail of Air France; and Maki Akaida of the budget Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo.
Some represent industries that have rarely, if ever, had a female presence at the top, such as the petroleum, metal manufacturing and chemical sectors.
In total, the top 50 women listed in Fortune come from 19 different countries.
TWO of Spain's largest high-street banks are reported to be in merger talks, potentially resulting in the joint entity being the second-biggest in the country in terms of share capital.
THE average Spanish resident will spend between €500 and €1,500 on their holidays this year, with three in 10 set to increase their budget from last year and 16% reducing it.
SPAIN'S State post office has launched a new solution for passing travellers who do not want to lug their suitcases around: Lockers for bags are now provided, with prices depending upon weight.
