Santander Continues to Grow its Commercial Bank in the U.S.; Strengthens Multifamily Real Estate Portfolio and Leadership Team

• Santander Appoints Leaders for Multifamily Joint Venture with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
• Ellen Marshall Named Head of Corporate and Middle Market Banking

Santander Bank, N.A. (“Santander Bank” or “the Bank”) announced today it is now servicing 100 percent of the assets in a $9 billion portfolio of New York-based, multifamily real estate assets formerly owned by Signature Bank. In December 2023, Santander Bank closed a transaction with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to participate in a joint venture that will manage this portfolio following the failure of Signature Bank. The Bank acquired a 20 percent equity stake of the joint venture for $1.1 billion.

Michael Lee, Senior Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Commercial Banking at Santander Bank will serve as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Member of the multifamily joint venture and Diego Gonzalez has been named Chief Operating Officer. Gonzalez has been with the Bank for nearly seven years and previously served in various leadership positions in Strategy and Corporate Development at Santander, spanning the U.S. and Mexico.

In another move to strengthen its leadership team, the Commercial Bank has named Ellen Marshall as Head of Corporate and Middle Market Banking. This marks an important milestone along the Commercial Bank’s transformation journey in the United States to provide the best holistic banking solutions and experience for clients.

Since 2017, Marshall led New York & New Jersey Middle Market Banking, building a strong team, expanding the Bank’s client base, and attracting low-cost deposits and non-credit fee-based revenue. Marshall is an industry veteran, having served in a succession of leadership roles at Santander Bank, Capital One, CIT Group and Fleet Bank.

“Building great teams is a top priority for the Commercial Bank as we simplify to accelerate execution and focus on the most profitable client relationships. I am confident that, under Ellen’s leadership, we will drive growth across all geographical and vertical markets and deliver tailored solutions to clients and prospects by leveraging a combination of our local expertise and Santander’s global capabilities,” Lee added.

As part of its transformation and growth, the Commercial Bank is embracing digital solutions to enhance its capabilities in the treasury and payments space. This includes updates to Online Banking to further simplify the banking experience for its clients and the development of a state-of-the-art self-service escrow platform. In addition, the launch of Santander Digital Checks will enable clients to upload checks to private label URLs, and the introduction of an international payment tracker will allow clients in the United States to track where their payment is in real time. Santander Bank is also a founding member of the Trade Club Alliance, a unique global network of banking groups that connect businesses with their trusted partners in new, international markets and offer a wealth of relevant trade expertise.