Santander Chairman Emilio Botin Dies Aged 79

The death from a heart attack of Santander's chairman Emilio Botin - known as "El Presidente" - has raised the prospect of his eldest daughter Ana being handed the role.

Ana Botin, who currently heads Santander UK, is understood to be in line to succeed her father ahead of a board meeting on Wednesday that will nominate a new chairman.

Emilio Botin, who became one of Spain's most powerful men, was credited with transforming Santander from a small domestic lender into the eurozone's biggest bank.

He was the third generation of Botins to lead Santander, amassing €1.4trn (£1.12trn) of funds and nearly 200,000 employees.

His decisions to expand - through the purchases of Banesto in 1994 and Abbey National 10 years later - complemented an aggressive march into Latin America.

The moves helped shield Santander from the eurozone debt crisis and Spain's long-running recession, with the bank now making only about 14% of its profit at home.

The bank's share price fell 1.7% on news of Emilio Botin's death, with the focus fully on who will succeed him.

Any decision to back Ana could spark controversy after banking dynasties came under scrutiny in the wake of the scandal at Portugal's Banco Espirito Santo, where the founding family's holdings are being examined over financial irregularities.

Earlier this year, two shareholder advisory firms recommended investors vote against her re-election as a director - one because it thought Botins were over-represented on the board, the other because they considered there were not enough independent members.

In the event, she got the backing of 81.3% of the votes, almost unchanged from three years earlier.

She has run Santander UK since November 2010.

Under her tenure, Santander’s UK Bank Account market share has risen from 9.2% to 10.0%, though its UK mortgage gross lending market share has fallen to 14% from 19%.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was among those to pay tribute to her father.

He said: "He was a man who has been able to make Banco Santander the most important bank of our country.

"I had a meeting with him last week and he was well and in good form. It has been a surprise and a blow."