HispanicBusiness

Spain's biggest bank Santander said Monday it has appointed Javier Marin its new chief executive officer while Alfredo Saenz was resigning voluntarily.

Marin, 46, heads Santander' insurance and asset management branch. He has worked for the bank since 1991.

Saenz, 70, stepped down before the Bank of Spain decided whether a criminal conviction prevented him from remaining at his post.

In 2011, Saenz was sentenced to three months in prison and barred from holding a position in a bank for authorizing false embezzlement charges against four entrepreneurs in 1994 to pressure them to pay their debts to Banesto bank, which he headed at the time.

Saenz was subsequently pardoned by the government.

The Supreme Court partly cancelled the pardon in April, saying the government had the right to pardon Saenz' prison sentence, but not to allow him to keep his post.

The Bank of Spain was due to take a final decision on the fate of Saenz, who was known as the right-hand man of Santander chairman of the board and executive director Emilio Botin.

Saenz helped Santander quadruple its assets during his 11 years as chief executive.

But Spain's economic crisis has affected the bank, whose first-quarter profit plunged by 26 per cent to 1.2 billion euros (1.6 billion dollars).