The boss at Santander, the Eurozone’s largest bank by market value, leads our international list after two years atop
Fortune’s Europe, Middle East and Africa ranking. In 2015, Botin steered her organization—
No. 74 on the Global 500—through volatile times, and even eked out a small growth in profit when measured in local currency. But, as was the case for most in international finance, it’s been a tough year: Santander’s market value has slid 30% since August 2015, in part because of concerns around the bank’s second largest market—recession-stricken Brazil. In Spain, Santander’s slow-growing home market, the company announced it will shutter hundreds of branches. Meanwhile, in the U.S, it failed its “stress test” for the third year in a row, and in the UK—its largest market (and where Botin was awarded honorary damehood last year)—consequences of the Brexit vote loom.