José Antonio Álvarez will finally have a substitute as CEO of Santander. It will be the Mexican Héctor Grisi Checa (Mexico City, 1966), whose appointment was announced on Friday, while the bank is bidding, precisely, to buy Banamex, the Citi subsidiary in the North American country.
He has a professional career in the financial field of more than 35 years: he has worked in the United States and Mexico for two of the largest European banks, Santander and Credit Suisse. He will take up his new position on January 1, 2023, after a transition period and the approval of the ECB.
Married with three children, on his Linkedin he defines himself as “a family man, husband and lover of reading.” He also likes to travel and enjoy the company of friends during the weekends. People who have collaborated with him point out that he creates a great work environment, in which people feel comfortable; without ceasing to be rigorous and demanding, he is a person of very good character, positive and cheerful, who generates a lot of trust in his team and knows how to delegate.
He is very close, like the executive he is going to replace, and he knows the people he works with very well. He is considered very imbued with the culture of Santander, of not working in silos, but rather collaborating a lot between the different departments. On Linkedin he describes himself as passionate about the financial market. “My commitment is to work every day with the best team to support the growth of people and companies, with a focus on responsible banking: Business with Purpose [negocio con propósito].”
Born to a Lebanese mother and an Italian father, he was educated in Mexico and Canada before graduating with honors in Finance from the Universidad Iberoamericana, in the Mexican capital, in 1989. He has postgraduate studies in markets and finance at various schools, including New York Institute of Finance.
From 1986 to 1991, he worked at the Mexican brokerage firm Inverlat, in the corporate banking department. For the next six years, she held various positions at the Inverméxico financial group, in the corporate and investment banking divisions. After the tequila crisis (the lack of international reserves caused the devaluation of the peso), he participated in the sale of Banco Mexicano to Santander and in the restructuring of some of the main companies in the country.
In 1997 he signed for Credit Suisse Mexico, where he would stay for almost two decades. For four years he was director of investment banking; since 2001, General Manager, and since 2007, also CEO. He was also responsible for investment banking for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
During that time, he worked between New York and Mexico, and launched a successful investment and corporate banking business, giving consistency to the bank and recurring business, and recognition of the entity as a trusted advisory bank among clients. As a member of the Americas and Emerging Markets steering committees, he participated in the development of the strategy for all of Latin America.
Santander
In 2015 he signed as executive president and general director of Santander Mexico. In the first quarter of this year, he obtained an adjusted ordinary ROTE of 31%, the highest of all the group’s markets. The entity highlights that Grisi has completed the transformation of the business in the country, reaching one of the best efficiency ratios in the sector in Mexico (44% at the end of the first quarter). The number of active customers has increased by 47%, to 9.6 million, doubling the number of loyal customers and quadrupling digital customers. It has launched two businesses from scratch: in 2019, the car financing business, which has a 14% market share in the country; and Tuiio, of microcredits. It has achieved leading positions in the market in SMEs, companies, mortgages and project finance, and has placed the bank among the top three entities in investment banking.
In December 2019, he became the head of Santander in North America, which now accounts for a third of the group’s business. In 2021, the US posted a record profit of $2.75 billion, up from $648 million in 2018. The North American business corridor generated revenue growth of 18% (CAGR) on the strengths and local capacities, while taking advantage of the size and connectivity of the group; savings of more than 100 million dollars were achieved in 2020 and 2021 due to technological integration in the region.
Santander is among those aspiring to buy Banamex, the Citi subsidiary that the US bank has put up for sale. The one chaired by Ana Botín is the only foreign bank that has made an offer for the entity, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, president of the country, has expressed his preference for Banamex passing into the hands of local investors.
Grisi’s election comes four years after that of Andrea Orcel, which is still being settled in court. Álvarez has finally ended up remaining in the position for four more years, until it has been determined who occupies his place as number two.
Meanwhile, Botín has ceded part of the executive powers in favor of the CEO following the Anglo-Saxon governance model. The president continues to have important powers on the strategy of the business. Grisi, after seven years in the group leading important subsidiaries, has the knowledge of retail and investment banking, digitization and the internal culture that Santander is looking for.
Charges
He is a member of the board of directors of Grupo Financiero Santander México, Banco Santander México, Casa de Bolsa Santander, SantanderConsumo, Santander Hipotecario, Santander Vivienda and Santander Holding USA.
He is a member of the board of the Mexican Stock Exchange and trustee of the Universidad Iberoamericana, and has been vice president of the Association of Mexican Banks.
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