Banco Santander has incorporated into its team Santiago Bau, who held the position of general director of El Corte Inglés between October 2025 and June 2026, in the period between the departure of the former CEO, Gastón Bottazzini, and the appointment of the current CEO, Javier Catena.
Bau had joined El Corte Inglés in 2022 as corporate general director. In the transitional phase between Bottazzini's departure and the arrival of his successor, he took on direct responsibilities over the entire group’s businesses, in addition to overseeing the corporate and financial area.
According to what the newspaper "Expansión" has published and has been confirmed by Europa Press through knowledgeable sources, the executive will become the global head of Strategies, Finance, and Supplier Management within the Technology and Operations area of Banco Santander, reporting directly to the Technology director, Juan Olaizola.
The executive holds a degree in E3 from Icade, a degree in Political Science and Sociology from UNED, and has a master's in Business Administration from Harvard University. Before joining El Corte Inglés, he developed a career of more than 15 years at Goldman Sachs.