Santander has named Christiana Riley as the next chief executive of its U.S. bank, executive chair Ana Botin said Friday via LinkedIn.
Riley succeeds Tim Wennes as part of a global restructuring that will also eliminate the bank’s three regional divisions in Europe, North America and South America, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Botin lauded Wennes on Friday for doing “an outstanding job in transforming Santander US and laying the foundations for continued growth and success,” adding that Wennes “has decided that now is the right time to pursue other opportunities.”
“Christiana will become CEO of Santander US and I am confident she is well-placed to lead the next phase of growth in this critical market,” Botin wrote.
The bank last retooled in September 2023, when it consolidated its retail and commercial business and created a global digital consumer banking division.
Riley has been Santander’s regional head of North America since October 2023. She previously spent 17 years with Deutsche Bank, including as CEO of the Americas.
“It’s a privilege to be leading this great platform into a new phase of growth,” Riley wrote on LinkedIn in response to Botin’s post.
A spokesperson for Santander did not return a request for comment on Riley’s appointment or the global restructuring.
The bank will move forward with its five global units: retail, consumer, corporate and investment banking, wealth and its PagoNxt payments business, Reuters reported.
Santander in October launched its digital bank, Openbank, in the U.S., to generate deposits to fund its auto franchise.
Botin said at the time she expected Openbank to be a full-service digital bank in the U.S. by the end of 2025, according to Reuters.
Openbank hit $2 billion in U.S. deposits, according to a Monday announcement. The bank aims for its U.S. business to “efficiently boost national deposit acquisition that will fuel its leading Auto lending franchise and transform its Retail Bank,” Santander said.
“Our aim is to become a national, digital bank with branches and reaching this deposit milestone at record pace is a testament to our customer-obsessed mindset, commitment to innovation, and global connectivity,” Swati Bhatia, head of retail banking and transformation, said in a prepared statement.
Bhatia joined Santander in March 2024 to lead its U.S. digital transformation. She previously led Marcus and GreenSky for Goldman Sachs.
