New CEO Tim Wennes is counting on soon-to-launch digital offerings to boost consumer loans and deposits and playing up Santander's international reach in a bid to win over middle-market and corporate clients.

The hiring of Tim Wennes was one a series of leadership changes announced Wednesday by the holding company for the bank and the auto lender Santander Consumer.

The agency alleges the subprime auto lender violated consumer finance laws by misrepresenting the level of guaranteed insurance protection.

Scott Powell, the CEO of Santander Holdings USA, has spent years contending with a host of regulatory problems. He outlined a long-range vision that includes a branch-focused retail push and possible acquisitions.

Santander has commonly offered multicurrency (dollar and pound-sterling) notes through its Holmes master trust platform.

The Dallas auto lender might lose as much as one-third of its business if it severs ties with the automaker, raising fresh questions about whether its parent company will buy out shareholders and take full ownership.

The Dallas subprime auto lender named Juan Carlos Alvarez de Soto CFO on Friday. He succeeded Ismail Dawood, who had been CFO since December 2015 after working at Bank of New York Mellon.

S&P says exclusion of the value of "personal contract purchase" balloon payments from Santander's Motor 2017-2 transaction will benefit the deal through excess spread and recoveries from contract defaults.

Powell downplayed fears about subprime auto lending, saying he aims to improve Santander Consumer's compliance culture, beef up customer services and expand its relationship with Chrysler Capital.

Loans with terms between 73 months and 75 months comprise 15.6% of the collateral for DRIVE Auto Receivables Trust 2017-2, up from 0.5% in 2017-1; yet Moody's Investors Service is holding its loss expectations stable.