At a dinner in the City of London last Thursday, Emilio Botín boasted about Santander’s position as one of the few global banks to emerge from the credit crisis unscathed. In a video message broadcast at the Euromoney awards, the 73-year-old chairman of Santander delivered a tongue-in-cheek lecture on the basic tenets of banking.

“If you don’t fully understand an instrument, don’t buy it. If you would not buy a specific product for yourself, don’t try to sell it. If you do not know your customers very well, don’t lend them any money,” he told the crowd. “If you do these three things, you will be a better banker, my son.”