A statement from the banking giant revealed the board of directors will meet today (10 September) to appoint a new chairman.
Mr Botín was born in 1934 and spent more than quarter of a century as chairman of the bank which under his leadership went from a small regional Spanish lender into one of the biggest banks in the world.
A Financial Times profile published earlier this year stated Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola y García de los Ríos, Marquis Consort of O’Shea was always going to be a banker.
His grandfather (Emilio I) had been chairman of Santander from 1909. His father (Emilio II) took over in 1950.
In 1958, the then 23-year-old with degrees in law and economics, joined the family firm too.
