Saturday 19 July 2008

Emilio Botin: master of the universe

If you don’t fully understand an instrument, don’t buy it. If you would not buy a specific product for yourself, don’t try to sell it. If you do not know your customers very well, don’t lend them any money. If you do these three things, you will be a better banker, my son.

Emilio Botin, Banco Santander's President (10/07/2008)


You may laugh at his spoken English (his pronunciation is funny and terrible indeed), but Emilio Botin, Banco Santander's President, is a true "master of the universe" as described in The Bonfire of the Vanities.



And, however poor English accent he has, he has taught a couple of lessons to the financially savvy Britons as it has been dutifully recognised by the Financial Times (FT), The Economist and others.

The ICAEW announces the names of the candidates who pass the ACA exams in the FT and for that reason my name has already appeared a couple of times. I keep a salmon-coloured FT page with my name printed in tiny font. But I still have a long, long way to go to cause as important headlines as Botin. Besides, I have no English to show off either!!

Love and freedom.

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