Jaime Botín, the historic chairman and founder of Bankinter, passes away

Jaime Botín-Sanz de Sautuola García de los Ríos, the historic chairman, founder and driving force behind Bankinter, passed away today in Santander, surrounded by his family, at the age of 88.

Born in Santander in April 1936 into a long-established banking family, his first steps in the financial world came in 1957 when he joined Banco Santander, where his father, Emilio Botín Sanz de Sautuola, was the chairman. He played a crucial role in the expansion and modernisation of Banco Santander during the 1970s and 1980s, eventually acting as its First Vice Chairman between 1999 and July 2004.

Jaime Botín's name has been closely linked with Bankinter since its founding as an industrial bank in June 1965, when it was jointly owned by Banco de Santander and Bank of America in equal proportions. Bankinter was listed on the Madrid stock exchange in 1972, at which time the Bank became a commercial bank that was fully independent of its founders.

Jaime Botín was the driving force behind Bankinter's innovative and independent character, building it into one of the leading banks in Spain and creating the distinctive personality that has defined the bank since it was founded. He became the Managing Director of Bankinter in 1965 and was the Chief Executive Officer from 1977 to 1986, before serving as Chairman of the bank from 1986 to March 2002. He was the company's largest shareholder, through the family holding company Cartival, which currently owns 23.19% of the bank's share capital.

Jaime Botín was also the creator and driving force behind Linea Directa, a company founded in 1995 as a joint venture between Bankinter and Royal Bank of Scotland, which revolutionised the insurance market in Spain. This technology-based company, with its totally disruptive business model remained part of Bankinter Group until its stock market floatation in April 2021.

A strategic and forward-looking vision.

A freethinker and lover of philosophy and literature with broad-ranging cultural interests, Jaime Botín was a natural leader with a long-term strategic vision. Under his leadership, Bankinter became one of the most innovative financial institutions in Spain, applying the latest technologies to its banking business and distribution and customer relationship models, while always remaining sharply focussed on job creation and generating shareholder value.

The bank was a pioneer in Spain in marketing products such as interest-bearing accounts and investment funds, and in launching telephone and digital banking in the 1990s.

His clear-sighted vision and anticipation of the future of finance led him to adopt strategies that have become crucial in the financial sector, such as rigorous risk management and commitment to technology and remote channels rather than extensive branch networks.

Addressing the bank's Annual General Meeting in 1995, Jaime Botín was 30 years ahead of his time in saying: “Bankinter has developed integrated management technologies that will enable us to exploit the new communications and information environment. We are one step ahead of our competitors in this, so that in the near future we will become the true 21st-century bank that so many will, I imagine, want to be but that very few have a realistic chance of becoming. And whoever succeeds in breaking the traditional models and establishing a new and more efficient form of banking will quickly leave the others behind”.

Almost 60 years after it was founded, Bankinter is the only independent bank that remains original and faithful to its brand and its principles. It is the only bank to have continued growing organically and generating value for its shareholders, thanks to its constant striving for excellence, innovative spirit and ability to anticipate the needs of its customers, which are qualities that continue to characterise the bank six decades later.

At 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, Jaime Botín will be taken to his family home, El Promontorio, at Avenida Pérez Galdós 32 in Santander, in the heart of the bay of his hometown, which is the headquarters of the Botín Foundation, where the vigil will be held. The funeral will be held the following day in private.

Rest in peace.