BBV, Santander Bid For Staff; Rivals Since Banesto

By Robert S Duncan

29 June 1995

Capital Markets Report

The defection of a key executive to Banco Bilbao Vizcaya SA (BBV) from Banco Santander SA marks an escalation in rivalry between the two Spanish banks.

Juan Luis Mayordomo, previously director of Treasury at Santander, is now BBV's Deputy Director General.

And rumors in the market abound that BBV's latest hiring could be the first of several from Santander's ranks.

"There's definitely something going on, like a big bank war, which is cutting into margins. That was more or less acknowledged by the presidents for both BBV and Santander when they said that 1995 is going to be a horrible year for profits," says a banking analyst in Madrid.

Many date the rivalry between the two banks back to Santander's takeover of Banco Espanol de Credito (Banesto) in 1994, which made Santander the largest financial company in Spain and through which it lured away key BBV staff.

At the central bank's urging, BBV supplied a team to restructure the ailing Banesto, led by top executive Alfredo Saenz. But when Santander bought its 50% stake in Banesto it also hired Saenz and his team.

At Santander's annual shareholders meeting in April, bank president Emilio Botin confessed that "I had always thought that the ideal situation would be to keep the team which had directed the Banesto recovery so successfully, led by Alfredo Saenz."

The hiring of Mayordomo is part of a management restructuring forced by the loss of the team to Santander, and some see it as sweet revenge for BBV.

"It's kind of nice to see them (Santander) on the receiving end for once," says one banking analyst in Madrid. BBV has been hiring other senior staff recently too.

Jose Perez, former central Bank of Spain general director of inspections, will serve as BBV's general director of markets.

Other hirings include Sebastian Ubiria, former board member for Intermoney and the Spanish Stock Market Commission (CNMV), as well as Alvaro Vazquez from J.P. Morgan.

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