28 January 2025
Santander UK
plc and Santander UK Group Holdings plc (the "Companies") - Chair
succession
Santander UK today announces that William
Vereker, Board Chair, has indicated his intention to step down from
the Santander UK plc and Santander UK Group Holdings plc Boards
(the "Boards") during the course of 2025, once a thorough
appointment process and orderly handover have been
completed.
William joined the Boards in October 2020 and
was appointed as Chair with effect from 1 November 2020. Since
then, he has played a critical role in overseeing an extensive
period of business transformation, as well as leading a significant
evolution of the Board, including the recruitment of a new CEO and
refreshing all the Independent Non-executive Directors.
Ana Botin,
Banco Santander S.A. Group Executive Chair
said: "The Group Board is very grateful for the
invaluable role William has played in steering the UK bank through
some of the most challenging circumstances in recent times. Under
his stewardship, Santander UK has navigated Covid and a difficult
economic environment to provide the support its customers, clients
and people needed. He has overseen the essential
transformation of the business that will make the UK a core part of
the Group's success in the years to come. We wish him well for the
future."
William
Vereker said: "Santander UK has undergone a
significant transformation since 2020 and it has been an honour to
Chair its Boards during that time. I am immensely proud of the
progress the business has made and of the team who have delivered
it, as well as how we have delivered for customers. I am excited
about how the business will continue to develop under the
leadership of my successor. With the transformation well
under way and having a strong CEO and a refreshed Board in place,
now is the right time for me to step down"
The Santander UK Board Nomination and Governance
Committee is undertaking a thorough Chair appointment process and
the new Chair will be announced in due course.
- Ends -
Santander
UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a
wide range of personal and commercial financial products and
services. At 30 June 2024, the bank had around 19,600 employees and
serves around 14 million active customers, including 7 million
digital customers via a nationwide 444 branch network, telephone,
mobile and online banking. Santander UK is subject to the full
supervision of the FCA and the PRA in the UK. Santander UK plc
customers' eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS in the
UK.
Banco Santander
(SAN SM, STD US, BNC.LN) is a leading
commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain and one
of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. The
group's activities are consolidated into five global businesses:
Retail & Commercial Banking, Digital Consumer Bank, Corporate
& Investment Banking (CIB), Wealth Management & Insurance
and Payments (PagoNxt and Cards). This operating model allows the
bank to better leverage its unique combination of global scale and
local leadership. Banco Santander aims to be the best open
financial services platform providing services to individuals,
SMEs, corporates, financial institutions and governments. The
bank's purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a
simple, personal and fair way. Banco Santander is building a more
responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support
this objective, including raising €220 billion in green financing
between 2019 and 2030. In the first quarter of 2024,
Banco Santander had €1.3 trillion in total
funds, 166 million customers, 8,400 branches and 211,000
employees.
