IF GRUPO SANTANDER'S takeover of the UK's Abbey National is finalized later this month then Emilio Botín, the Spanish bank's chairman will become arguably the most powerful retail banker in Europe. The combined organization should be among the continent's top five banks by market capitalization and, with substantial businesses in the UK, Germany and Portugal as well as in its home market, it will have a pan-European presence to match any of its bigger rivals. For Botín, this is the big one. This is the deal that completes his journey from the obscurity of provincial Spain to the heart of the global financial system and a significant position in one of the world's most important banking markets.
If it goes through, Botín joins the major league. He will leave behind for good the traditional world of Spanish finance that he has devoted so much of his career to breaking up and breaking away from. He'll already be halfway to fulfilling the bold ambitions expressed by the bank's sprawling futuristic headquarters on the outskirts of Madrid. And next time he dines with his old friend Sir George Mathewson, chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, they will meet, for the first time, as equals.