Updated, 3:37 p.m. | Sheila C. Bair, a former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation who once argued that former regulators should be barred from joining the banks they oversaw, is joining the board of Banco Santander, the Spanish bank said on Monday.
Ms. Bair, who ran the F.D.I.C. during the turmoil of the financial crisis, has been appointed a director of Santander, subject to ratification by shareholders, the bank said. She will fill a vacancy left by Terence Burns, a former British official who served for more than a decade on the board.
Though Santander is based in Madrid, it has extensive operations in the United States, with $50 billion in deposits and 705 branches. That division is supervised by the F.D.I.C. in a back-up capacity. The company also owns a bank in Puerto Rico that is regulated by the F.D.I.C. and local authorities.
Ms. Bair is joining the board of the Madrid parent, which is regulated by the Bank of Spain.
“As an independent director my role will be to help identify risks and strengthen the group’s operations,” Ms. Bair said in an email statement. “I respect the way Santander successfully navigated through the financial crisis by sticking to a more traditional banking business model, as well as their ‘subsidiarization’ approach which heavily relies on local organization and strong, local management and governance.”
In its statement, the bank cited Ms. Bair’s “international experience and her knowledge of the U.S financial market.”
Ms. Bair, who left the F.D.I.C. in 2011, is a senior adviser to the Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit public policy organization. She has previously spoken out against the so-called revolving door, in which former regulators go to work for the industry they once oversaw.
“I would like to see financial regulation be viewed as a lifelong career choice – similar to the Foreign Service – rather than a revolving door to a better-paying job in the private sector,” she wrote in her book, “Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself.”
“There should be a lifetime ban on regulators working for financial institutions they have regulated,” she wrote.
Ms. Bair’s compensation for the board position was not disclosed.
“I hope that my service on the Santander board will provide yet another avenue for continuing my commitment to reforming the global financial system and contributing to a safer, more responsible and customer-oriented banking system,” Ms. Bair said.