Irishman Gerry Byrne has been appointed head of Europe at Santander Group, one of Spain's leading banks and the largest in the euro zone by market capitalisation.

He will have responsibility for supervising Santander's operations in Spain, Portugal, the UK and Poland and its global consumer finance business. Mr Byrne had been chairman of the supervisory board at its Polish subsidiary.

Mr Byrne worked at AIB for more than three decades, including in senior roles with the Irish bank's then Polish subsidiary Bank Zachodni WBK.

His appointment is part of a new organisation structure that Santander said would “ensure effective delivery of the group’s strategy, underpinned by accelerated digital transformation, increased operational excellence and improved capital allocation”.