Santander Central Hispano
Santander Central Hispano wins the award for taking an interesting step into the remittances markets, successfully merging operations in major countries and biting the bullet in smaller markets where there was little logic for it to have a presence.
Santander sold a 25% stake in its Mexican operations to Bank of America with a view to gaining access to the fast-growing Hispanic population in the US, as well as raising capital. The largest one-way flow of remittances in the world is between the US and Mexico, and many banks are intent on leveraging their Mexican-US links to service this flow.
In Mexico, Venezuela and Chile, Santander efficiently merged local operations. In Mexico, it integrated Banco Santander Mexicano and Banco Serfin and still grew its market share. In Venezuela, it finished merging Banco de Venezuela and Banco Caracas, and posted a major increase in profits of 34%, giving it an ROE of 39%. In Chile, it merged Banco Santander and Banco Santiago, becoming the largest bank in Chile and posting a 71% increase in profits.
In markets of no strategic importance, such as Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, the bank made major cuts in its operations. In countries such as Colombia, it restructured its local operations. This allowed it to focus on markets with better prospects, specifically Brazil, Mexico and Chile.
In a tough year for Latin America, the bank’s net attributable income fell only 3.4% in dollar terms, as it came close to completing the integration of a common technology platform in the region (excluding Brazil), and posted non-performing loans of 3.1%.
