Spanish bank ordered to pay $76M to Italian banker for withdrawing job offer

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - A Madrid court ruled on Friday that the Bank of Santander must pay Italian banker Andrea Orcel €68 million ($76 million) for backtracking on its offer to make him CEO.

The ruling came as a blow to the Spanish bank, whose President Ana Botin insisted in court that Orcel had never signed a binding contract with Santander.

In 2018, Santander announced that Orcel, who had been a top banker with the Swiss investment bank UBS, would become the CEO of Santander in 2019.

However, after tough negotiations over his compensation package, Santander issued an ultimatum Orcel was not willing to accept. The bank dropped him, and from there, one of the highest-profile legal battles in European banking ensued.

The Madrid court sided with Orcel, ruling that his contract was “valid” and “unilaterally and unjustifiably” canceled by Santander.

Now Santander will have to pay Orcel a €17 million ($19 million) signing bonus, €35 million ($39 million) for long-term incentives, €5.8 million (6.54 million) for two years’ salary, €10 million ($11.3) in moral and reputational damages as well as legal fees.

Representatives of Santander have told Spanish media that they will appeal the case. After leaving UBS and the debacle with Santander, Orcel became the Group CEO of the Italian bank UniCredit in 2021.