Andrea Orcel is suing Santander for 100 million euros after the Spanish bank yanked an offer to make him its chief executive. Breakingviews imagines what counsel the hard-charging former M&A banker might offer himself.I wanted to follow up on our dinner the other night where we discussed your future. It was very generous of you to pick up the tab given you’re about 50 million euros out of pocket while an army of employment lawyers bill you by the hour.
Much depends on what you want to do next. If you are still keen on being a CEO, you would be best suited to a financial institution with a half-decent investment bank. That rules out Deutsche Bank. I hear your old friend Jes Staley, chief executive of Barclays, is getting fed up with the weather in London and being kicked by regulators at every turn. But any head of a British bank must be adept in the art of public humility.
The problem is drumming up business. The era of the aggressive financial institutions dealmaker – the field you used to dominate – has ended. No bank in western Europe has done a significant cross-border acquisition since the financial crisis. One of the few European lenders that does generate capital and has a track record of successfully integrating deals is, er, Santander.