José Antonio Álvarez

José Antonio Álvarez is the vice-chair of the board of directors of Grupo Santander. He also serves as vice-chair of Banco Santander (Brasil) and PagoNxt. Mr Álvarez was Group CEO until 2022. Prior, he had directed Group’s Finance Division from 2002 to 2004 and acted as Group CFO until 2015. Before joining Santander, he had directed the finance division at Argentaria (1995-1999) and then BBVA (1999-2002), served as CFO at Banco Hipotecario de España and as Vice-President of Finanpostal Gestión Fondos de Inversión y Pensiones, and worked at Banco de Crédito Industrial and Instituto Nacional de Industria. Mr Álvarez has sat on the boards of directors of Santander Consumer Finance S.A, Santander Consumer Bank AG, Banco de Crédito Local S.A. and others, and on the supervisory boards of Grupo Santander’s autonomous subsidiaries in Poland, Germany and the US. He was also chairman of the European Banking Federation Banking Supervision Committee from 2009 to 2012. Mr Álvarez holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business from the University of Santiago de Compostela, and an MBA from the University of Chicago