Banco Santander’s Risk Director is emerging as a favorite to lead the bank’s subsidiary in the United Kingdom

Banco Santander finalizes changes to its organizational chart. The Cantabrian entity studies the appointment of Pedro CastroCEO of the bank in Portugal, as head of the risk area worldwide. He would take over from Mahesh Aditya, who is running as a candidate to lead the UK division.

Aditya was appointed Group Risk Director in 2023although he joined the bank in 2017 as head of risk for Santander Holdings USA, the parent company in the United States. The banker has developed his entire professional career in the financial sector in companies such as JP Morgan or Citibank. In fact, he even moved to Madrid as group risk director at Iberia. It so happens that the bank chaired by Ana Botín nominated Aditya as a member of the board of directors of the British subsidiary on October 1 to replace Dirk Marzluf, who left the board on September 30.

Now it is in the pools to take the baton of Mike Regnier, who announced a few weeks ago his voluntary resignation as CEO of Santander UK with effect from the first quarter of 2026. The decision has acquired relevance as it occurs in the midst of the acquisition of TSB, the British business of Banco Sabadell, whose transaction is expected to close next March for 2.7 billion pounds, despite the fact that the manager explained that his intention to separate from the bank dates back years.

Santander too I would have bet on a profile of the house to fill Castro’s vacancy in Portugal. According to ‘Bloomberg’, the position would be occupied by Isabel Guerreiro, who is currently in charge of the retail business and transformation of the Portuguese division. Guerreiro’s election would be part of a succession plan at Santander Totta that had been underway for several months, according to sources told the aforementioned agency.

If confirmed, the board would become the first woman to hold this responsibility. This subsidiary is the third largest in Portugal by volume of assets with a 20% quota in mortgage loans. Other prominent women in Portuguese banking are Maria Cândida Rocha e Silva, who is president of the private bank Banco Carregosa since 2008. Madalena Torres was general director of Banco Best, Novo Banco’s digital bank, for four years until 2022.