Madrid, 15 June 2023.
Banco Santander has agreed to appoint Pedro Castro e Almeida as the new European regional head. Castro e Almeida, currently CEO of Santander Portugal, replaces António Simões, who has decided to leave Santander to take up a new position as CEO of Legal and General Group, a UK-based insurance and asset management company.

In his new role, Castro e Almeida will be responsible for Santander’s European business (banks in Spain, UK, Poland and Portugal) and for leading the transformation in the region, which he will report to the group’s CEO, Héctor Grisi. Castro e Almeida will retain his current position as CEO of Santander Portugal. Bank CEOs in Spain, England and Poland will report directly to you.

Castro e Almeida joined Santander Portugal in 1993, a unit in which he has been CEO for the past five years. During this period, the bank has undergone major transformations, simplifying and automating operational tasks, and becoming the most efficient and profitable entity in the country. Prior to becoming the CEO of Santander Portugal, he was a director of the entity for over 10 years and passed through various areas of the bank.

This appointment will take effect from September 1, subject to the relevant approvals, until then António Simões will retain his current responsibility for ensuring an orderly transition.

António Simões joined Santander in 2020 and has played a fundamental role in transforming business in Europe. Under his leadership, the bank has made significant progress in integrating its activities in the region and in the development of One Santander. All this has resulted in ordinary profits in Europe increasing from 1.138 million euros in 2020 to 3.810 in 2022, a trend that continues into the first quarter of 2023, with a profit increase of 19% year-on-year. The region’s profitability (RoTE, real return on investment) has increased from 3% in 2020 to 13% in the first quarter of 2023, driven by franchise growth, whose customer base increased by 1 million in the last anus.