Santander taps Uría for legal head as part of team restructure

Illescas, who joined Uría in 1999 and has been a partner at the firm since 2010, will lead the newly created business legal affairs division. In this new role he will act as legal counsel overseeing the banking group’s business units and coordinate legal advice for corporate operations as well as the legal areas of the group’s institutions outside of Spain.

The other new internal legal affairs division will be headed up Adolfo Díaz-Ambrona Moreno, who was previously responsible for the corporate legal affairs department of Spanish bank Banesto, which is majority-owned by Santander.

In his new role he will act as legal counsel overseeing litigation and legal support for Santander’s technology, corporate operations/services, acquisitions, real estate, communications, corporate marketing, public policy, universities, foundations, corporate and social responsibility units, as well as the non-labour related area of human resources.

Both Illescas and Díaz-Ambrona Moreno have also been named senior vice presidents of Santander and will report to the bank’s general secretary Ignacio Benjumea.

Uría acts as a regular counsel to Santander and often advises the bank in tandem with best-friend firms Davis Polk & Wardwelll and Slaughter and May (17 November 2008).