Spain’s Banco Santander has hired two of Royal Bank of Scotland’s most senior bond syndicate bankers as part of a renewed drive to build out its debt capital markets business.

Mark Dodd, co-head of European bond syndicate at RBS in London, and colleague Stuart Montgomerie, head of European corporate bond syndicate, quit last Friday and will join Santander next year after a period of gardening leave, according to a source at RBS.