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Madrid - Giant Spanish bank Santander on Monday announced the resignation of its chief executive Alfredo Saenz, who was convicted in 2011 for irregularities in a debt-recovery case.
He will be replaced by Javier Marin, Santander's current head of insurance, asset management and private banking, said the bank, the eurozone's biggest by capitalisation.
It gave no reason in its statement for the "voluntary resignation" of Saenz, 70, who had been chief executive since 2002.
Saenz was convicted in 2011 of lodging a false complaint against certain creditors in order to reclaim debts from them.
The case dated to 1994 when he was chairman of Banesto, a bank that was bought up that year by Santander.
In November 2011 the outgoing Socialist government commuted to a fine his initial sentence of three months jail and a ban from banking.
But Spain's Supreme Court partially quashed that decision last week.
The bank said it had nearly quadrupled in size during his tenure, with assets growing from €358bn to €1.25 trillion.
"The board of directors expressed its recognition of and gratitude for Alfredo Saenz' extraordinary achievements since joining the group," it said in a statement.
