Legal Varapalo for Banco Santander and for his president, Ana Botín, by the frustrated signing of Andrea Orcel as CEO of the Financial Group. The judgment signed by Javistrate Javier Sánchez Beltrán who obliges the Bank to pay a compensation of 68 million euros to the Italian financial concludes that the contract signed by the parties in September 2018 was legal and that its break four months later, before even May Orcel take possession of the position, it was "unilateral and unjustified" by the Spanish Bank.
The judge supports his sentence in the numerous private messages exchanged between his own booty and Orcel during the months he lasted the signing process. Both executives were good friends and in fact it was the President of Santander who promoted her hiring to culminate the process of relay in the dome after the death of her father. The booty itself presumed from its incorporation "especially eloquently" on Twitter one day after announcing it to investors, as it collects the sentence: "It is a great news that Andrea is one of José Antonio [current CEO of the bank] and me To carry out our vision. "
But soon that euphoria became a snake that still does not closely close, since the bank himself announced yesterday that he will resort to the sentence before the provincial audience of Madrid. The agreement between the parties included that the Bank would pay a maximum of 52 million euros to the Italian financial to compensate for the deferred remuneration and the Bonus in UBS that would not receive to leave the Swiss group, where it was a head of investments at European level. There was "expectation", in any case, "that Orcel could perceive some of these incentives", which would reduce the cost of signing.
But UBS was strict and resigned to collaborate in the payment of compensation, which raised about Santander all the weight of payment. The sentence collects numerous emails and whatsapp between booty and Orcel to update each other on how the UBS banker departure was going. These messages began even before both parties signed the contract. "There is a line that had reserved for Axel [Weber, President of UBS]: If they decide that they do not pay you anything because we are competitors then it is good to know and that they can not be strategic advisors - that is irrefutable and an elegant way of saying Things - ", was in an email sent by booty to Orcel on September 10, 2018. Italian continued to press the council of UBS to agree compensation.
In addition to the messages, the judge reiterates that the approval of the contract by the Board of Directors and its announcement through various public means made the appointment effective, so it rules the arguments made by the Bank around which actually what Approved the dome was a letter-offer that, in any case, should be approved by the General Shareholders' Meeting. "From all the above it can be concluded that, in short, the contract was resolved unilaterally and unjustified by Banco Santander," the magistrate concludes.
In this way, the sentence obliges the group to pay 68 million euros to Orcel, which has currently been recolved as CEO of Italian Unicredit. The quantity includes 17 million in the "bonus of incorporation", 35 million for "Assumption of long-term incentives", 5.8 million for the remuneration of the two exercises in which it was unemployed and 10 million "compensation for moral and reputational damage. "
In this last sense, the judge admits that the relevant fact in which the suspension of his signing was announced, he could produce "considerable frustration, uneasing, uncertainty and a certain discredit in the banking sphere."
For his part, Sources of Banco Santander yesterday expressed his "total disagreement" with the judicial decision, announced recourse and recalled that justice has already given the reason for the Bank in the two complaints raised against the Group by the Orncel Legal Team.
Date Of Update: 10 December 2021, 20:26
