Banco Santander : Advisory Board meets in Boston for the first time

Banco Santander's International Advisory Board meets in Boston for the first time

• Senior strategy, IT and Innovation executives focus inaugural session on how to serve banking customers in the digital age.
• Grupo Santander's board of directors also meet in Boston, reviewing the strategy of the new Santander US leadership team and board, reconfirming the bank's commitment to its businesses in the U.S.

Madrid, April 26th, 2016. Banco Santander's International Advisory Board (IAB) yesterday held its first meeting in Boston (Massachussets, USA) with a focus on digital and changing customer expectations of their banks. They were joined by Santander executives and several members of the Group board.

Ms. Botín said: 'The calibre of the members of our International Advisory Board and the quality of our discussion at our first meeting are testament to the strong position and strategy of Santander. Their advice will help us deliver even better to our 122 million customer in our core markets in the years to come.'

The purpose of Santander's International Advisory Board is to provide strategic advice to the Group, with a strong focus on innovation, digital transformation, cybersecurity and new technologies. It will also deliver its insights regarding a broad variety of issues, such as capital market trends; corporate governance and talent; brand and reputation; regulatory matters and compliance; and global, customer-focused financial services. How to serve banking customers in the digital age was the main topic for discussion in its first session. The IAB is expected to meet at least twice a year.

Separately, Banco Santander's board of directors also held a meeting today in Boston to review the Group's business performance and its first quarter earnings, which will be released tomorrow, April 27th. Ana Botín said: 'The U.S. is one of Santander's ten core markets. We are fully focused on meeting our supervisors' expectations and we are making progress. In the U.S. we operate in two businesses in which Santander is a leader internationally: retail banking and consumer finance. I am very proud of our new leadership team and an exceptional set of new US board directors who are firmly focused on making our US bank the best for our people, customers, shareholders and communities.'

Note to editors: Chaired by former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Larry Summers, the International Advisory Board has seven additional members: Sheila Bair, former chairman of the FDIC, former member of the board of Santander and current president of Washington College; Mike Rhodin, senior vice president at IBM Watson; Marjorie Scardino, former CEO of Pearson and member of the board of directors of Twitter; Francisco D'Souza, CEO of Cognizant and member of the board of General Electric; James Whitehurst, president and CEO of Red Hat; George Kurtz, CEO and co-founder of CrowdStrike, and Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor and former president of Oracle.

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