Founding Shareholders of Banco de Santander

Local trade and shipping community in Cantabria whose need for trade finance shaped the bank's early business.

The founding shareholders were merchants and businesspeople of Santander, a port with heavy trade links to Spain's Caribbean and Latin American markets. They backed the bank to provide credit, discounting and payment services for that trade. The Botin family became associated with the bank later in the 19th century and went on to lead it for most of the 20th and 21st centuries. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).