Banesto

For the cycling team formerly sponsored by Banesto, see Movistar Team.
Banco Español de Crédito, S.A.
Company typeSociedad Anónima
BMAD: BTO
ISINES0113440038
IndustryFinancial services
Founded1902
FateIntervened by Government of Spain due to Banesto Scandal (1993)
Absorbed into Banco Santander (2012)
HeadquartersMadrid, Spain
Key people
Mario Conde
(Former Executive chairman)
Antonio Basagoiti
(Chairman)
José García Cantera
(CEO)
ProductsRetail, business and wholesale banking
RevenueDecrease €2.562 billion (2009)[1]
Decrease €891.6 million (2009)[1]
Decrease €559.8 million (2009)[1]
Total assetsDecrease €126.2 billion (2009)[1]
Total equityDecrease €5.473 billion (2009)[1]
Number of employees
Decrease 8,905 (2009)[1]
ParentBanco Santander
Websitebanesto.es

Banco Español de Crédito, S.A. (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbaŋko espaˈɲol de ˈkɾeðito]), “Spanish Credit Bank”) better known as Banesto, was a Spanish multinational financial services company. Prior to the Spanish Government's historical intervention in 1993, the first in the history of banking, Banesto was the third-largest financial group in Spain,[2] operating around 1,770 branches,[1] as well as the fifth-largest company of the IBEX 35.[3] The ambitious capital increase planned in 1993 by its Executive Chairman Mario Conde together with J.P. Morgan became the biggest restructuring plan in the history of Europe, involving asset sales and a rights issue of US$1.2 billion, after which Banesto was expected to become the largest financial firm in Europe.[4] Although initially accepted by the Bank of Spain, it was later frustrated following intervention on the basis of financial transparency.

In October 1987, Mario Conde and Juan Abelló became major shareholders of Banesto.[5] Soon after, on 30 November, Conde was appointed as the Executive Chairman, serving from 16 December 1987 to 29 December 1993.[6][7] With a patrimonial hole in Banesto tentatively estimated at €3.6 billion (equivalent to roughly US$7.2 billion today)[8] on 28 December 1993, Luis Carlos Croissier, the President of the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores, the financial regulator of the national securities markets, decided to impose a trading halt on Banesto, and Luis Ángel Rojo, the Governor of the Bank of Spain, communicated the intervention of the banking entity, tasking Alfredo Sáenz Abad with chairing the board of directors of Banesto in a temporary basis.[9] Conde, who stayed in preventive detention from December 1994 to January 1995, faced a trail of judicial problems.[10] He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March 2000 by the Audiencia Nacional (raised to 20 years in 2002 by the Supreme Court).[10] He served 11 years before being paroled.[11]

After the intervention, the team of managers from BBV, headed by Alfredo Sáenz, assumed initial control of the bank and were responsible for executing a sanitation plan. On April 25, 1994, Banco Santander gained control of the bank by winning an auction put forward by the Bank of Spain, thus becoming the largest Spanish financial group. It offered 313.5 billion pesetas (US$2 billion), which meant an offer of 762 pesetas per share, compared to the 667 pesetas offered by BBV and 566 of Argentaria.[12]

In 2012, Santander announced it would absorb Banesto and rebrand all of its divisions and offices.[13]

Outside of Spain, Banesto became well-known as the sponsor of the cycling team that featured Miguel Indurain, the first rider to win five consecutive Tour de France. The team is currently now known as Movistar Team.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Annual Report 2009" (PDF) (in Spanish). Banesto. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-24. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Villaécija, Raquel (11 April 2011). "Banesto: el declive de un gigante" [Banesto: The Decline of a Giant]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  4. ^ Webster, Justin (9 January 1994). "J.P. Morgan caught up in a Spanish Inquisition: The American blue-chip bank prides itself on making sound investments, but its role in the Banesto crisis may blow its credibility". The Independent. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Mario Conde, de banquero de moda a condenado" [Mario Conde, from fashionable banker to condemnation]. ABC (in Spanish). 29 July 2002.
  6. ^ Cuartango, Pedro G. (12 April 2016). "Soberbio, ambicioso y amoral" [Proud, Ambitious and Amoral]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  7. ^ "De estudio sobre la intervención del Banco Español de Crédito" [Study on the intervention of the Spanish Credit Bank] (PDF). Diario de Sesiones del Congreso de los Diputados (in Spanish) (323). 19 October 1994.
  8. ^ Noceda, Miguel Ángel (12 April 2016). "Mario Conde: The brief but brilliant career of a failed banker". El País.
  9. ^ "El año que cambio Banesto" [The Year Banesto Changed]. El País. 28 December 1994.
  10. ^ a b Remírez Ganuza, Carmen (30 July 2002). "El Supremo eleva de 10 a 20 años la condena impuesta a Mario Conde por el 'caso Banesto'" [The Supreme Court increases the sentence imposed on Mario Conde for the 'Banesto case' from 10 to 20 years]. El Mundo (in Spanish).
  11. ^ "Detenido Mario Conde, acusado de blanquear y repatriar el dinero saqueado a Banesto" [Mario Conde arrested, accused of laundering and returning the looted money to Banesto]. Faro de Vigo (in Spanish). 12 April 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  12. ^ "Santander compra Banesto por 313,000 millones y se convierte en el líder bancario" [Santander acquires Banesto for 313,476 million]. El País (in Spanish). 26 April 1994. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  13. ^ "Santander absorbs Banesto and Banif and shuts branches". BBC News. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2014.