Banks need to play their part in rescues without putting all the burden on shareholder funds, says Santander’s group executive chairman.

The country’s biggest firms are doing all they can to bolster their reputation, as the nation faces a human and economic crisis brought on by Covid-19.

Banks came into the coronavirus pandemic much stronger than they went into the global financial crisis, but will the capital and liquidity buffers they have built be sufficient to see them through the most dramatic economic crash in history?

The gravitational pull of Latin America on Santander has resulted in the move to appoint Santander Brasil CEO Sergio Rial to the bank’s board as executive director.

Freshly empowered European bank chairmen are making perplexing lurches as they search for new chief executives. A random CEO generator might help.

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With Santander Brasil registering record profits and Santander Mexico promising the same, the outlook for the group looks Latin. As its European business stalls, how will the bank be affected by Latin America’s shift from engine of growth to core business?

Report says they must cut costs by 10%; years of 20%+ ROE are coming to an end.

Lights, camera, reaction: Santander chairman Ana Botín opens up on TV.

Spain’s biggest bank is moving further away from its deal-making past, instead seeing a way forward for its troubled US and UK banks in payments and cloud technology.

HSBC takes the top spot in Euromoney’s survey for the third year in a row.

It’s 2020: welcome to the decade of low-cost Brazilian banking.

Spanish bank profitability will sink even further as left-wing populists Podemos enter a coalition with the socialist party, making a private-sector future for Bankia ever more remote.

Itaú overtakes state-controlled Banco do Brasil to become the largest lender.

Santander targets US retail deposits, as Goldman's Marcus finds online lending tougher than expected.

European bank shares have sunk to levels not seen since 2008, and even some of the region’s bank CEOs admit it is hard to make a compelling investment case for them. Euromoney speaks to the people at the top about their potential to re-emerge as global leaders.

European banks don’t have a continental market, right? Wrong. Even if they cannot do full-blown mergers, the cross-border consolidation of specific business lines offers a way of gaining some of the economies of scale that US and Chinese banks enjoy.

The Trade Club Alliance, a new 14-bank partnership to match SME exporters and importers, reflects greater willingness among banks – especially in Europe – to work together against low-cost newcomers, while relinquishing their own global ambitions.

Banks’ track record on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, the growth driver of the economy, remains a mixed one in Europe.

Despite the headwinds for region’s banks, there were some outstanding performances that demonstrate what can be achieved without macroeconomic support. The best example of this was Santander Brasil, Latin America’s best bank.

Austria

Argentina Best Bank

DBS named world’s best bank in Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2019; JPMorgan is the world’s best investment bank; Erste’s Treichl recognized as banker of the year.

Albania

Regulate big tech or deregulate banks.

Master of the merger of the 2000s.

From Deutsche Bank to Santander or ING, banks in Europe need to change with the times and accept accountability to a wider public, represented by their governments: as with weak capital, deficient ethics will only entail greater state control.