£21m pension pot for british banker

The retirement fund racked up by Ana Patricia Botin, chief executive of Santander UK, is thought to be the most generous of any British company director on UK records

The new boss of one of Britain’s most prestigious banks will receive a pension pot worth more than £21million, giving Ana Patricia Botin a payout of around £750,000 a year - 32 times the average British wage.

At 50, Ms Botin has become one of the most powerful women in British business since she took over as head of Santander back in December. Forbes magazine has ranked her 38th most influential businesswoman in the world.

As the eldest daughter of Emilio Botin - the chairman of Santander who turned the Spanish bank into an empire - Botin’s pension scheme now beats the £19m pension pot held by the recently retired chairman of HSBC, Stephen Green.

The banker began her professional life as a graduate trainee with the American bank JP Morgan and joined Santander in the 1990’s on the investment side. Between 2002 and 2010 she was chief executive of Banesto, the Spanish retail bank owned by Santander.

Although staggering in Britain, Botin’s pension pot is not unusual in Spain, where it is customary for senior executives to retire on multi-million pound schemes that guarantee 90% of their final salary for life.

Botin is now leading plans for a £20billion stock market floatation of Santander UK this year.

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