Family business. The most important in Spain

Emilio Botín Sanz de Sautuola y García de los Ríos, after spending several years as General Manager, was appointed president of Banco Santander in 1986, succeeding his father. Since then the Santander Group has not stopped growing and expanding, being one of the most important financial entities in Spain, Europe and Latin America. Upon the death of Emilio Botín Sanz de Sautuola y García de los Ríos in 2014, the Board of Directors unanimously appointed Ms. Ana Botín as the new president.  

Arturo Fierro-Viña has belonged to 29 boards of directors of banks and companies linked to the family financial group. As most important positions we highlight: president of Naviera Fierro, Banco de Finanzas, Fasa-Renault, Taurus Ediciones; Vice President and CEO of Banco Ibérico; Vice President of Financiera Fierro; member of Industrias Cemar, the Compañía Trasatlántica Española and the Compañía Ibérica de Valores. In 1977, Arturo Fierro joined the board of directors of the Central Bank, when it acquired Banco Ibérico.

Ignacio Fierro-Viña, was the youngest of the 3 brothers. He was on 28 boards of directors of banks and companies linked to the family financial holding company. Like his brother, after the death of his father in 1961, he was in charge of the Latin American companies dedicated to tobacco, matches and spirits. In Venezuela he was president of the Venezuelan Fosforera and the great promoter of the Banco Exterior de Caracas.

He was also president of Banco Ibérico like his brother Alfonso and of Cointra, of Cementos Triefierro, of the Compania Auxiliar de Fósforos, of Ibérica de Electrodomesticos, of Cervantes, of the Unión Comercial del Atlántico; Vice President of Fosforera Española; Petroliber advisor; member of the Anglo-Spanish Company of Portland Cement, of the Santa Comba Mining Company, of Financiera Fierro, of the Spanish Company of Special Cements El León and of Campsa.

Like his other 2 brothers, he was a director of the Central Bank, after its absorption of the Banco Ibérico (1977). The crisis and financial problems affected him much less than his brothers Arturo and Alfonso, since he had kept the American investments and the Spanish businesses that he had personally managed: Cointra and Camping Gas. In 1990 he went on to open a small bank in New York.

In 1916 he founded the Transmediterránea company with an initial capital of 100 million old pesetas. The company integrated several shipping companies, and controlled communications between the Balearic Islands and Morocco and cabotage traffic in Levante. After the civil war, he carried out various very important financial operations, highlighting the purchase of Barcelona Traction, after which he founded FECSA. In 1955 he created the Juan March Foundation (imitation of other foundations such as Rockefeller or Carnegie), to promote science and culture.

Banco Popular came to control various regional banks such as: Banco de Andalucía, Banco de Castilla, Banco de Crédito Balear, Banco de Galicia and Banco de Vasconia. In 2004, Valls handed over the presidency of the financial group to Ángel Ron, which he had shared with his brother Javier since 1989. Despite this, he continued to be linked to the entity, chairing the meetings of the general shareholders' meeting. . Banco Popular was sold to Banco Santander for the symbolic amount of €1, in June 2017. This fact affected thousands of shareholders due to bankruptcy. El Popular was finally absorbed by Banco Santander in September 2018.

In 1987 he was one of the negotiators of the attempted merger of Banco Bilbao with Banesto. In addition to actively participating in the merger with Banco Vizcaya. In 1988 Ybarra is elected Vice President of the new bank (BBV). In 1990 he was proposed as president at the end of the merger period between the two banks. Upon reaching the position, the entity experienced great growth abroad, reaching first place in the classification of Spanish banks. The BBV was a sponsor of events as important as the Universal Exhibition in Seville (1992) and became a shareholder in companies such as Repsol, Telefónica and Iberdrola. He also made multiple investments in Latin America.

In the last years of the decade, Ybarra led the merger of BBV with Argentaria. The resulting Bank BBVA became the second largest operator in the sector in the country, only surpassed by BSCH (Banco Santander Central Hispano). Ybarra was elected co-president of the new bank (along with Francisco González) until, on December 18, 2001, he tendered his resignation. He maintained his positions as co-president of the BBVA Foundation and vice-president of Repsol. In the first months of 2002, after learning of his alleged involvement in the scandal involving the BBV's secret accounts in Jersey, he resigned from all positions related to the entity.