Banesto is 89% owned by Santander and is run as a quasi-autonomous entity. Banesto’s small size relative to its parent ensures that it can be used as “a trial bank or a laboratory” for new technology and as a business model, which (if successful) can then be implemented across the group, chairman Ana Patricia Botín, told The Banker in a past interview.
Forty-four per cent of Spanish bank BBVA’s 2005 attributable net profit came from Latin America. There is both a downside to this – excessive dependence on a risky region – and an upside – an incredible opportunity to leverage a strong franchise.
Antonio Brufau, chairman and CEO of Repsol YPF, tells Karina Robinson of his softly-softly response to Latin American energy nationalism.Antonio Brufau is CEO and chairman of Repsol YPF, one of the top 10 listed oil companies in the world. He is involved with leading Spanish gas distributor Gas Natural in its hostile bid for Endesa, the Spanish utility.