Banco Santander SA Executive Chair Ana Botin differs with JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon’s pessimistic outlook on Europe, saying she sees “only upside” for the Continent.
“Europe has strong fundamentals, debt-to-GDP is better, strong institutions,” Botin said Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television interview, adding that she sees significant potential to invest there. “You just need to choose your country, your sector and your company.”
Botin’s main focus of late had been the Americas, including the US, where she’s building up the investment bank by hiring Wall Street talent. Santander is also rolling out its digital offering, Openbank, across much of North America to help attract deposits, has pledged $2 billion of investments in Mexico and obtained a banking license for Canada.
European banks have doubled in value over the past three years while their US peers have stagnated when adjusting for currency swings. Amid that backdrop, Botin said she disagrees with Dimon’s negative assessment of the region in comments last week in Dublin, where the JPMorgan CEO said the EU “has a huge problem” in competitiveness.
“Southern Europe today has higher growth than most of the United States,” she said.
A reluctant dealmaker for much of her decade-long tenure, Botin has recently accelerated strategic transactions as she pulls back from some markets to focus on other regions. This month, Santander agreed to buy retail lender TSB for £2.65 billion ($3.55 billion) to strengthen its position in the UK.
The deal came just weeks after Santander, Spain’s largest bank, exited much of its Polish operations in a €7 billion transaction.