Banco Santander which has vastly expanded its global retail presence in the wake of the financial crisis, suspended a Madrid-based analyst after US regulators charged him with trading on inside information related to a large takeover that the Spanish bank is helping to fund

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the suspended employee, Juan José Fernández García, allegedly made $576,000 in illegal profits by making a large bullish bet on Canadian fertiliser and feed company Potash Corp of Saskatchewan. After Fernández García, an analyst in Santander's European equity derivatives research division, made the bet, Anglo-Australian mining company BHP Billiton made a $38.6bn (€30.4bn) offer for Potash on August 17.