(Bloomberg) -- Banco Santander SA hired Credit Suisse’s former investment banking co-head David Miller for a newly created position in its fast-growing securities unit.

Miller will join as vice-chair of Santander investment banking, based in New York, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named. He will report to Jose Linares, who oversees Santander’s corporate and investment banking unit. The news was reported earlier by the Financial Times.

Miller is the latest high-profile hire for Santander as the Spanish lender seeks to gain muscle in the US. Although the Madrid-based firm was already planning in 2022 to expand in the country, its expansion gained speed after thousands of Credit Suisse employees found themselves looking for jobs when UBS Group AG took over its rival earlier this year. 

Santander is best known as a retail bank but has a strong investment banking presence in some of its markets, such as Brazil, Mexico and Spain. Executives have said that having a larger presence in the US will allow it to offer services to corporate clients it already operates with in other regions, mainly Latin America and Europe.  

A spokesperson for Santander declined to comment. 

Ana Botin, who chairs the lender, said in September that Santander has hired hundreds of investment bankers in recent years. The bank is looking to double the size of its US investment banking operations, with a focus on growing in advisory, it said recently.

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