Santander
Name: Calvin Poovathur
Banner ID: 000645555
Course: Business Administration with Marketing
Subject: Business Proj 1(Contexts/Fra)
Grupo Santander and Alliance & Leicester (Santander)
Introduction
Grupo Santander is a banking group centered on Banco Santander. It is the largest bank in the Europe and one of the largest banks in the world in terms of market capitalisation. In 1999 Banco Santander and Banco Central Hispano megered and created Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH).
The 1999 merger between Santander and Banco Central Hispano (BCH) was designed to be a merger of equals in which the top executives of the two companies would share control of the merged entity. Soon after the merger the BCH executives accused the Banco executive Mr. Botin of trying to push his own agenda and threatened to take legal action against him. This post-merger squabbling was resolved when the two BCH executives agreed to accept severance payments, retire and relinquish control to Mr. Botin, at an expense to shareholders of 164m euros.
The large termination pay-outs generated negative media for the business and Mr. Botin. He was eventually brought to trial on criminal charges of misappropriation of funds and irresponsible management.
However, in 2005 he was cleared of all charges. The verdict said the 164m euros retirement payments made to the two former executives were legal, made as compensation for the services provided to the bank. In 2005 the anti-corruption division of the Spanish public prosecutor 's office cleared Mr. Botin of all charges in a separate case in which he was accused of insider trading.
The revenue Santander made in 2009 was 39.38 billion euros and the profit they made was 8.943 billion euros. They have 169,460 employees which makes them second largest bank in Europe.
Alliance & Leicester is a UK based bank. It was formed in 1985 when two businesses merged the Alliance Building Society and Leicester Building
Bibliography: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10594638 http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/in-depth-analysis/santander-to-merge-al-and-abbey/2061560.article Dytham-Ward, M. (2009), ‘‘Developing the leaders of tomorrow in Abbey, part of the Santander Group’’, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 226-31. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ai84cdJ5E5S8&dbk http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/article4766896.ece http://alliance-leicester.co.uk/home/index.aspx http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/07/santander-speculation-flotation-uk-division Image: http://veiculos.barukar.com/imagem/santander.jpg