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Chair
María Dolores Dancausa Treviño
Chair
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María Dolores Dancausa was born in Burgos, is married and has three children. Since March 2024 she has held the position of non-executive Chair of Bankinter, one of the leading financial institutions in Spain, having previously served as Chief Executive Officer since October 2010. She graduated from the Colegio Universitario San Pablo CEU with a degree in Law. Also, she has completed various Management Programmes at Harvard Business School, an AMP (Advance Management Programme) at INSEAD Business School (Fontainebleau) and a Master's Degree in Human Resources and Business Strategy from the Euroforum-INSEAD University Institute (Madrid).
Dancausa has developed his professional career in the financial and insurance sector, first at Banco Exterior, and then at Bankinter. When Línea Directa Aseguradora was created in 1994, she was appointed General Secretary and Secretary of the Board until 2008, when she became Chief Executive Officer. During this period, she helped to consolidate the company and position it as the fifth largest car insurance company in Spain.
After her appointment as CEO of Bankinter at the end of 2010, she continued to sit on the Board of Directors of Línea Directa until April 2021, when the company was floated on the stock exchange. From 2013 to 2018 she was also an Independent Director of the British firm Esure, one of the UK's leading insurers. She is currently President of the Board of Directors of EVO banco and Avantcard DAC, External Independent Director of Acciona, and since 2024 she is also External Independent Director of the Spanish multinational Puig.
Under her management, Bankinter has been confirmed itself as one of the healthiest and most solvent institutions in Europe, with a series of indicators (profits, assets, lending, capital and efficiency) that have not ceased to improve throughout the crisis period. According to the European Banking Authority's 2023 stress tests, Bankinter is the best Spanish bank and fifth out of 100 European banks. The Bank has also consolidated its position as one of the most sustainable banks in the world, forming part, for the fifth year running, of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World, the most prestigious international index in the field of sustainability.
Acknowledgements
María Dolores Dancausa has received several awards in recognition of her career. Among them, she was named by Forbes magazine as one of the most influential figures and one of the best CEOs in Spain. In 2013 she was awarded for the first time the prize for best CEO of the year, and in 2021 she was awarded it again. In addition, in recent years she has climbed positions in the MERCO ranking of the 100 business leaders with the best reputation in Spain, currently occupying the sixth position on the list. Dancausa entered this ranking more than ten years ago and has been consolidating her position.
Dancausa was awarded in 2011 by the magazine Ejecutivos for her excellent professional career. In 2012 she was awarded the Most Relevant Personality of the Year at the Economy Night and, this same year, the newspaper Expansión awarded her the Emprendedores & Empleo Award for Best CEO of the Year. María Dolores Dancausa has received the EDA Award for Executive of the Year, the Ecofin Financial Award of the Year in 2013 and the Executive of the Year Award from the magazine Emprendedores in 2014. She is the first person to receive three awards in the "Tintero" awards, granted by the APIE, which recognise her transparency in the media, following her accésits in 2011 and 2017, having received the last one during 2023. In 2018, she received the award for Best Iberian Manager of the Year from the Portuguese-Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Financial Excellence Award for Professional Career from the IEF in recognition of her career in the financial sector. In November of the same year Computerworld awarded her the CEO of the Year Award for having been able to combine the promotion of technology with efficiency and effectiveness in the business, and in January 2020 the Madrid Chamber of Commerce recognised María Dolores Dancausa as a Woman Leader Award 2020 for her career of achievement and her great work at the head of Bankinter. In 2023 she was recognised as 'Businesswoman of the Year' in the Financial Sector category at the European CEO Awards 2023, organised by the specialist magazine European CEO. And in 2024 she received one of the Puentia Con Marca Propia Awards, which recognise leadership in organisations and civil society.
In recent years, Bankinter has stood out for its financial results and for strong growth in all lines of business. The Bank closed the financial year 2023 with a record recurring profit in its history, with all business lines growing at a good pace, which has enabled the Bank to continue to expand its market share in the customer segments and countries in which it operates. At the end of 2023, the Bank maintained its leadership among listed banks in terms of profitability, efficiency and asset quality, as well as its strengthened solvency, which continued to be well above the ECB's regulatory requirements.
Bankinter is the fifth largest bank in the Spanish financial system, the fifth largest Spanish bank in terms of market capitalisation and profits, and the leading bank in terms of profitability (ROE) and asset quality. Bankinter bases its strategy on different diversified and complementary lines of business, and has a presence in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Luxembourg.