BBVA Compass chair retiring
BBVA Compass non-executive chairman Manolo Sánchez, who stepped down from the CEO position at the beginning of this year, will retire Wednesday.
Sánchez, 52, will be replaced by Terry Strange, a longtime member of the board and the current chairman of the audit and compliance committee.
“It has been my honor and pleasure to be a part of the BBVA Compass team since the BBVA Group first set its sights on the U.S.,” Sánchez said in a news release. “The team that has been built over the years is primed to do great things in the industry.”
Spain-based BBVA Group entered the U.S. banking market in 2004 when it bought Los Angeles-based Valley Bank for $16.7 million. Early Texas purchases included Laredo National Bank, completed in 2005, followed by Texas State Bank and State National Bank. The $9.1 billion purchase of Compass Bancshares in 2007 gave BBVA Group a large Sun Belt footprint.
As head of community banking from 2005 to 2008, Sánchez helped BBVA Compass integrate Laredo National Bank. He became CEO in 2008
and made technology one of the bank’s key focuses. BBVA Compass partnered with Iowa-based Dwolla in October 2014 to allow its account holders to make real-time money transfers.
One of the more notable deals was the purchase of Simple for $117 million in 2014. Simple is a digital bank without branches that offers its users tools for saving and budgeting.
The bank has, however, taken impairment charges on the Simple acquisition, suggesting it overpaid. Sánchez was also challenged by a nationwide recession and, more recently, an oil price slump.
Sánchez was replaced by the bank’s current chief executive, Onur Genç, in January. Genç was previously the deputy CEO of Garanti Bank based in Turkey. BBVA Group owns nearly 40 percent of Garanti.
“Manolo set the course for BBVA Compass as it moves into its next phase of profitable, organic growth,” Genç said in the news release. “We are grateful for his work, the dedication he has shown, and the impact he has made in the communities in which the bank serves. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
Strange, who is replacing Sánchez as non-executive chairman, retired from KPMG in 2002 as global managing partner of the audit business and a member of KPMG’s International Executive Committee. He is a member of the boards of Group 1 Automotive, New Jersey Resources Corp. and Newfield Exploration Co.