Santander Central Hispano has proposed Francisco Gómez-Roldán, a key figure in the development of the Spanish investment fund and pensions industry, to be the new chief executive of Abbey National.

Santander said Gómez-Roldán, currently chief financial officer at Grupo Santander, would succeed Luqman Arnold, Abbey's chief executive by November 15th, subject to the approval by the Financial Services Authority of Santander's buy-out of Abbey.