Santander appoints new CEO

Santander has announced the appointment of Mahesh Aditya as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Santander UK Group Holdings plc and Santander UK plc, effective from 1st March 2026.

Aditya joins from Banco Santander, where he has been Group Chief Risk Officer since 2023 and prior to that spent six years at Santander in the US, as Chief Risk Officer, Santander US for two years, followed by CEO of Santander Consumer USA from 2019 to 2023.  He has over 30 years’ financial services experience, having held positions across a range of blue-chip brands including Citi, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Capital One.  Aditya was appointed to the Santander UK Boards (Santander UK Group Holdings and Santander UK plc) on 1st October 2025. Aditya succeeds Mike Regnier.

Santander Chair, Tom Scholar, said “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Mahesh Aditya as our new CEO. With wide industry experience and deep knowledge of the Santander Group he is ideally placed to lead Santander UK through the next phase of our transformation and oversee a successful acquisition and integration of TSB. This will be critical to our ambition to be the best bank for customers in the UK.

“I would like to pay tribute to Mike Regnier for his outstanding leadership over the last four years. We will miss him and we wish him every success.”

Aditya said “I am pleased to be joining Santander UK as its CEO at such an important time. The acquisition of TSB will both accelerate our transformation and add to the considerable inward investment Group has made in the UK since it entered the market in 2004. It presents us with a real opportunity to execute the Group’s strategy in the UK, in which the integration of TSB will play a crucial role. It will enhance our offer to customers, enable us to grow and become a more competitive business creating genuine value for our investors.”