How the First Lady of banking returned home: The boss of Europe's biggest bank will never forget her proud family traditions – and one life-changing call 

Banking royalty: Ana Botin succeeded her father Emilio Botin as boss of Santander

It is the night that changed Ana Botin’s life. On September 9, 2014, while in London, she was informed by phone that her father – veteran Spanish banker Emilio Botin – had died.

Botin found a flight back to Spain and by 5am the next day she was at Santander’s headquarters in Madrid, having had little opportunity to sleep.

The death of her father Emilio at the age of 79, executive chairman of Banco Santander, Spain’s largest financial institution, raised a host of questions about continuity and succession. 

‘The most difficult thing was that we had a shareholders meeting scheduled on Brazil,’ Botin says.

This meant that she had to prepare for a critical session on the future of the business, despite all the emotions which come with the passing of a parent.

As the former executive chairman of another large Spanish bank, Banesto, and then chief executive of Santander UK, Botin was well qualified to succeed her father. 

‘I was one of the candidates. I was not the only one, of course, and I think Santander always favours internal candidates. 

'For a business like ours, bringing in somebody from outside would be difficult because understanding the business is important.

‘I think, as Warren Buffett says, I want people who understand the business and understand people,’ she says when we meet at a London hotel.

While Botin has talked about the events which led to her appointment, what actually happened in the boardroom remains private. 

But within hours she was installed as executive chairman. Less than 48 hours later she was standing before shareholders asking them to increase the bank’s capital so it could buy the shares it didn’t already own in its Brazilian offshoot.

It was a sudden and unexpected start at the very top of the ‘family firm’ for the elegant woman who is arguably the world’s most powerful female commercial banker.

Botin did not lose any time in putting her own stamp on the institution. ‘A month and a half later I changed the chief executive officer, a few of the managers, three or four board members, changed the dividend policy and did a $9billion (€7billion) fundraising.

‘I was sticking to a tradition which has done well for us for 170 years, by understanding that when you are stronger you need to change. 

You cannot change from a position of weakness. You need to change when things are doing well. And Santander was doing very well. People forget that we made money every year through the crisis.’

As the financial crisis and subsequent crunch in the eurozone unfolded, Spain’s system of regional savings Cajas crumbled. ‘But there was not a quarter of losses for Santander,’ Botin says. ‘We paid a dividend every quarter.’

At the lowest point, in 2012, it made a profit of €2billion. ‘Last year we made €6billion, so we are coming back.’

Role model: Ana Botin’s father, the veteran Spanish banker and Santander chief Emilio Botin, died on September 9, 2014

Botin traces Santander’s endurance back to the standards embraced by her grandfather, who was also an executive with the bank. 

‘He came from a town in rainy northern Spain, Santander. He used to go to church every Sunday and there was a poor lady who used to ask for alms, por Dios [in the name of God].

‘Then one Sunday he turns up and she says, “Will you give me alms in the name of God and the Virgin Mary?’’ My grandfather stops, watches her and says as you have two guarantors then its fine. He took out his wallet and gave her money.’

For Botin this incident highlights the mindset of a cautious man – that he would only lend money to a someone with two backers. It became a common practice at Santander. 

She adds: ‘There are always two people who have to sign the loan. Nobody, not even my grandfather, had the power to say yes on the strength of one signatory.’

To this day the only exception the bank makes to this rule is for small amounts to customers they know.

Santander UK, with 1.5million British shareholder, is currently the largest part of the bank. ‘These small shareholders [who came with the Abbey and Alliance & Leicester] like the dividends we pay.’

The Santander model is not complicated because the bank is ‘not in 100 markets, we’re not in 50 markets, we’re in ten’.

That makes it possible for Botin as executive chairman to personally know the top managers across all the operations and wherever possible to appoint local residents who understand the geography and needs of the customer.

Fears: Botin, who spends a great deal of time in London, does not want to see Britain exit the European Union

In spite of the record of trading profitably through the crisis, Santander has not been able to escape this year’s wrath of the stock markets where bank shares have come under pressure.

Many are trading at big discounts to the value of their business on their books. ‘It’s not like I am not delivering in the short term. We cannot increase profits by 30 per cent a year in a world that grows by 2 per cent, it’s very hard,’ she says.

Botin, who spends a great deal of time in London, does not want to see Britain exit the European Union. 

‘If you think about Germany, France and Britain, these are the three countries that count. Don’t underestimate what Britain has achieved from Europe’

At the moment her bigger concern is about the valuation placed on Santander by investors.

At its peak in April 2014 the bank was valued at €100billion, a historical high. So far this year it is down 18 per cent to 19 per cent against 30 per cent for most bank shares.

‘It’s not a great performance,’ Botin concedes, ‘but we are better than the market.’

While that may not sound like a resounding triumph, it is at least a ringing endorsement of sensible leadership.