Banco Santander’s board of directors has accepted the nomination committee’s proposal to appoint Felipe García Ascencio CEO of Santander México and Group country head for Mexico, effective from 1 January.
García Ascencio will replace Héctor Grisi, who in turn will take over from José Antonio Álvarez as Banco Santander CEO on 1 January 2023.

The current senior executive vice-president of Santander México, he will now become the Group’s country head for Mexico. Santander México registered an underlying profit of €874 million and an adjusted return on tangible equity (RoTE) of close to 35%0F1 for the first nine months of 2022.

Banco Santander Executive Chair, Ana Botín, said: “The fantastic job Héctor has done in recent years to put Santander México in a coveted position of continuous growth, which Felipe will now lead on. In the past months as Santander México senior executive vice-president, Felipe has had the perfect opportunity to prepare to take on maximum responsibility for the business in Mexico. I am certain he will be a great success. My visit to Mexico in November served to reaffirm my belief that it is one of the markets with the most potential in the Group”.

According to Felipe García Ascencio, “It’s a privilege to take the reins of Santander México. I’m certain we have the talent to keep growing and to take Santander even further. Support from the Group will be key to continue building a bank that stands out from the crowd for its customer care, product innovation, robustness and responsible banking practices”.

Felipe García Ascencio joined Grupo Santander in 2020. Prior to being named senior executive vice president of Santander México, he was its head of Corporate & Investment Banking. He holds a degree in economics from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and a master’s degree in economics from London School of Economics. He has over 25 years’ experience in banking, having held senior management positions for Mexico and Latin America in Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. He began his career at Mexico’s Ministry of Finance and Public Credit.

Santander México is one of Mexico’s leading banks, with a market share of 13.3% in loans and 11.8% in deposits. It has a wide range of financial products and services to suit all customer types. As of 30 September 2022, it held total assets of over €101 billion and boasted over 20.9 million customers. Headquartered in Mexico City, it has 1,368 branches and offices and 28,783 employees across Mexico.