Héctor Grisi Checa, is already the CEO of Banco Santander worldwide

From this January 1st, the Mexican Hector Grisi Czechis already the CEO of the Santander Bank worldwide, replacing José Antonio Álvarez, who remains in the group as non-executive vice president.

In this way, Grisi Checa -who until before his new position was executive president and general director of Santander Mexico and responsible for the North American region-, becomes the second in command of the Spanish financial group, below the president, Ana Botín. In addition, he is the first Mexican to reach a position of that level in global commercial banking.

According to information from the bank, the Mexican will report directly to the board of directors, and will be responsible for all Santander’s regions, countries and global businesses.

Lead the bank in a new phase of growth and transformation

In June 2022, when the Banco Santander board of directors proposed Héctor Grisi as CEO of the group, the president of the institution Globally, Ana Botín expressed her confidence in the Mexican, highlighting her decades of experience and in-depth knowledge of the markets in which she operates, as well as the bank’s business lines.

“His excellent results as CEO of Santander Mexico and head of North America speak for themselves and are the best example of why the board has chosen him to lead the bank in this new phase of growth and transformation,” he said.

Build on successes

On that occasion, Hector Grisi He stated that it is an honor to have the opportunity to continue building on the successes achieved, and added that the size, diversification and focus on the client provide opportunities for growth.

“I have no doubt that we have the strategy, the business model and the talent necessary to generate value and unleash our full potential,” he said at the time.

Just in mid-December, in his last meeting with the media in Mexico before moving to Madrid, Spain, Grisi Checa mentioned that one of the main challenges you will have in your new assignmentis to see how the economies are developing in the markets in which the bank operates, but also the part of the transformation that must be carried out.

“We want to become a digital bank with branches. We think that attention should be omnichannel. I think we are going to end up with a structure of the financial system in which digital services are up to the task and if you don’t want to stop at a branch, you can perfectly do everything from digital, but there will be people who also like to go to the branch and I think there has to be that perfect mix,” he said.

Wide trajectory

Héctor Grisi joined Grupo Santander in 2015 as CEO. In 2019 he was appointed regional head of North America, whose main markets are Mexico and the United States.

However, his professional career began more than 35 yearsand before joining Santander, he worked for 18 years in Swiss credit where he held various positions of responsibility, including director of investment banking for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and later general director of Credit Suisse Mexico.

Felipe García, assumes the general management

Similarly, since January 1, Felipe García Ascencio has already taken over as general director of Santander México -replacing Grisi Checa-, as well as country head of the group in the country. In this way, he is now the head of the entity at the local level.

In this regard, Ana Botin expressed: “the great work carried out by Héctor in recent years places Santander México in an enviable position to continue growing, now under the leadership of Felipe. In recent months as CEO, Felipe has had the opportunity to prepare himself very well to assume maximum responsibility for the country’s businesses, and I am sure that he will do a great job. On my recent visit to Mexico, last November, I was able to reaffirm my confidence that Mexico is one of the most dynamic markets and with the greatest potential of the group”.

Philip Garcia He joined Grupo Santander in 2020, and before being appointed CEO, he was responsible for the wholesale banking business.